Home
by I Don't Hate Fun
Summary: What if Zuko had followed Azula after she ran away from him at the end of The Search? Follow the two siblings on an adventure containing madness, pain, and the secrets of firebending. Family, Hurt/Comfort, Humor, and Romance. AU. Minor Zucest.
1. Same As Always

**A/N: Warning, if you have not read The Search, (First of all, read it, it's amazing.) and second, you need to read it because the beginning of this chapter has a scene of the end of Part 3 in it (with some minor changes and adding of sorts). Anyway, please R/R, and enjoy!**

* * *

 **Home**

 **Chapter One: Same As Always...**

* * *

 _A tiny, four year old Zuko waddled across the sand. In his palm was a firelily, its pink-red petals standing out against the stark-yellow earth. The entirety of the flower was giant compared to his tiny hand, barely fitting on top of the pudgy grabbers. His trek across the beach continued until he reached his destination._

 _Sitting down on the sand was a three year old girl. She had dark, raven hair, the same exact shade as his. Her eyes were closed, her ears listening to the war of the sand and ocean._

 _The hot, tiny pebbles suffocated the noise of his footsteps as he arrived, so he reached down and lightly poked her shoulder with the hand that wasn't carrying the flower. The girl slightly jumped, startled by the unexpected touch, but relaxed when she saw the familiar face._

 _She searched his yellow eyes, attempting to discern the reason he had disturbed her serenity. Zuko pointed to the flower in his hands, and as soon as her eyes saw it, she gasped at its beauty._

 _Zuko held the flower out towards her, offering it to his sister._

 _A smile reached her lips and pulled the thick pink lines upwards. She took the blooming plant and put it in her hair. After this she gleefully stared at the water again and sniffed in its salty smell. But, after a few seconds, something caught her eyes and brought her head to look up again. Her brother's hand was still extended out, his hand open._

 _The girl stared at it in confusion, and then looked back up at her brother's face. All he did was nod with a smile._

 _Azula took his hand and stood up. They walked along the beach, the flower never leaving her hair, and their hands never leaving each other._

* * *

"Get away from her!" Zuko yelled as he pushed his sister away from their mother.

"No!" she snarled. She balanced herself from the forced movement and punched out blue fire towards her brother. He dodged with a quick spin to the side and using his momentum, sent an arc of orange fire out from his leg in retaliation. Azula backflipped in order to avoid the hot jet and landed perfectly on her feet, sending another punch of heat Zuko's way.

A vase exploded from the impact as the Fire Lord dodged the attack easily. Before he could go back onto the offensive, he sister flew threw the air and spun manically, kicking out towards him with a plume of deadly plasma. At the last second he bent his back out of the way.

His face felt the searing heat of her kick as it passed centimeters away from his face and crashed into a wooden cabinet, shattering it into pieces. With blinding speed, Azula landed and gathered fire above a closed fist, bringing it forward to collide with Zuko's face. With an airbender's agility, Zuko deftly stepped to the side, once again avoiding certain death.

Azula stopped and stared at her brother, panting wildly. Then, with an animalistic urge, she got into a perfect stance and extended her index and middle fingers.

"Oh, for crying out loud, stop moving!" she shouted. The exciting buzz of lightning gathering onto her fingertips filled the air.

"Don't do it, Azula! I told you already, I know how to deal with your lightning! I can redirect it _anywhere_." Zuko warned, not wanting to fight any longer.

Azula's eyes watched him intensely, as if she didn't hear his words.

"Azula, please..." tears started to fill his eyes, "We're family... Don't make me-"

The princess interrupted him with a noise of rage and fired the enraged bolt of lightning towards her brother. The electricity hit Zuko in the chest as he caught it, rattling through his nerves like an enraged prickle-snake. His golden eyes met hers as she watched his hands move into the redirectioning position. His were filled with uncertainty and pain, and hers the same. He didn't want to hit her with it... He _couldn't_ hit her with it... She could die.

 _I need to release it now..._ Zuko thought. His nerves were being fried and torn to pieces.

Before he could decide, his chi decided for him. With a grunt of pain he unwillingly released the bolt, only being able to move his arms upwards a little. The involuntary electricity hit Azula in the shoulder, causing her to fly back and crash into the cabinet that she had destroyed.

Zuko collapsed onto his knees. His limbs were burning, and felt as though they had been hit with fire several times. The smell of smoke and steaming flesh hit his nose and he shuddered involuntarily. Some of the electricity was still there.

After a few seconds of shaking, he stood up, the burning in his arms and legs slowly receding into a dull throb. His eyes focused onto his sister, who was groaning in the heap of wooden rubble. She cracked open her eyes slowly and looked at him, no rage being there any longer. Only sadness showed itself.

Their eyes met and they stared at each other, not knowing what to say. After a moment, she spoke.

"Don't you get it Zuzu?! You and I will finally be free!" her eyes and voice were now pleading, "You of a throne you never really wanted, and me of this incessant nagging in my head!" Zuko winced as he heard the desperate tone of his sister's crazed words.

He sighed and closed his eyes. "No, you're wrong."

"Oh, stop kidding yourself!" she yelled angrily, pulling out the letter with false information, "The other morning when you had me over that cliff, why didn't you just let me go?! You could've gotten rid of me, and this letter!"

Before Zuko could retort, she continued, "It would have been so easy! Admit it! You need me to help you be free!"

The Fire Lord though for a moment, and then spoke, "In my heart, I know-I've always known-" he tied his hair into a traditional topknot and slid the Fire Crown in, "-that the throne was my destiny."

"That morning on the cliff..." Zuko began while his heart wrenched, "Azula, our relationship his so messed up. It's been like that as long as I can remember. And maybe it'll be like that for the rest of our lives."

As he said this, her normally emotionless face betrayed the pang of sad emotion she felt in her stomach.

He continued, "But one fact never changes. No matter what, you're still my _sister_." her eyes widened as tears threatened to fill her eyes. Unfamiliar twinges of emotion filled her stomach as her brothers words filled her ears. She looked down and squeezed her eyes shut, tears falling down onto the floor of the destroyed house.

"You know, you were right, Azula," she looked up at him, her mouth slightly open, "I do need you to be free. But not with taking the throne from me. I mean being my sister. I need you, Azula. I need you as my friend. My family..." he trailed off and closed his eyes, his arms falling limply to his sides. Her eyes widened even more than before and her mouth closed. It trembled slightly, and she grit her teeth as more tears started flowing down her beautiful face.

"Shut up..." she whispered, her hands coming up to cover her ears, "Shut up!"

She leaped up and dropped the letter, shooting out a stream of fire towards Zuko. He held out a hand and dispersed it, the flames harmlessly passing his sides.

His sister dashed past him as he shouted, "The letter!" He knelt down and picked it up, turning back to see Azula running away. He rushed to the doorway.

"Azula!" he shouted as he reached out a hand as if he was trying to grab her, "Come back!"

Without a second thought, he ran out of the house and into the night, following his sister's retreating form. Noriko followed after him, still confused but wanting to help in any way she could. Azula was quick, quicker than Zuko. But, he was always close behind her. She sprinted across the plains of Hira'a, leading Zuko and her mother closer and closer to the entrance to the Forgetful Valley.

"Come back!" her brother shouted breathlessly as he ran, "I can help you! I _want_ to help you!"

She slowly stopped at the gorge to stare at the only family she had left. Tears still rolled down her cheeks.

"Same as always, Zuzu." she began, "Even when you're _strong_... You're _weak_."

After this, Azula ran into the Forgetful Valley, knowing that this was the last time she would see him.

At that moment Noriko heard a huge rumbling noise in the distance and looked in its direction to see a spinning column of water shoot up from the forest. A giant, tree-like entity shot out of the funnel with a small blue shape and a large white animal flying her way. She gaped at the amazing sight.

Not taking her eyes off of the three figures, she reached out to her right and said, "Fire Lord, look!"

But when her hand reached nothing but air, she looked to where her nation's leader had been standing. He wasn't there any longer. She looked around to see where he had went, and when her eyes ventured into the gorge, she saw the shape of a certain Fire Lord disappear into the shadows...

* * *

"What do you mean you don't know?!" Aang shouted in disbelief.

Ursa was confused. The last thing she could remember was seeing the giant spirit reaching out to give her a new face. The last time she had seen her son and daughter was the night she left Caldera. The bald boy with the arrow on his forehead was asking where they were and she had no clue.

"I mean that I don't know where they are, and I don't know anybody named Sokka! From what _I_ remember, they should be at the palace! Why aren't they?!" the mother asked, the protective feeling of motherhood surging back through her after months.

The Avatar put his head in his hands and groaned, not believing this.

"Katara, please explain what happened to Zuko and Azula after she left. I'm going to go search for them." Aang said curtly.

He picked up his glider from the ground and opened it, flying away into the distance.

The former Fire Lady gasped, "He's flying! He's... That's impossible!"

Katara smiled and said, "Please, this way miss. A lot of things have happened after you lost your memory."

* * *

The first place Aang thought to search was the house. But, it turned out to be a disappointment.

Ikem and Kiyi were unharmed, Sokka with a few minor burns and scratches. But, there was no sign of the two siblings that seemed to have just disappeared into thin air.

The Avatar asked Sokka time and time again where they had gone but all he saw was them running off with Noriko before she turned back into Ursa. This scared Aang. Zuko was his friend, and if Azula and him both had disappeared, that could mean bad things for the Fire Lord and the entire Fire Nation.

Silently, he flew above the town of Hira'a, hopelessly searching for the two siblings.

* * *

Zuko was lost. The Forgetful Valley's forest had enraptured him in its dense foliage ever since he followed Azula inside. He was hopelessly, horribly, and utterly lost. The possibility of find his sister kept getting lower and lower in his head as he wandered through the green plants.

"Azula!" he shouted while stopping to rest at a tree trunk. The Fire Lord looked around but found nothing. He groaned and put his face in his hands.

 _Nrrgh!_ Zuko's eyes widened. He looked up and his eyes wandered for the source of the sound. It was definitely human and female. _BOOM!_ He jumped. The distinct flash and thunder made by lightning was nearby. It had to be her. Zuko leaped from his spot at the tree and raced of in the direction of the sound. After a few seconds of running, he caught sight of a fallen tree in a small clearing.

He took a few more steps and he reached the clearing. There were small fires raging in the foliage and scorch marks over the fallen tree truck. Zuko calmly dissipated the fire and after, searched for any signs of Azula.

On the ground was a bundle of pink, red, and black. His breath hitched and he knelt down. There she was. His little sister.

He couldn't see her face, so he got onto one knee and gently flipped her over. Her eyes were closed and she was limp. Zuko quickly lowered his ear to her chest and slightly panicked when he didn't hear anything at first. But, after a few seconds, a healthy-sounding heartbeat made its way known to the Fire Lord. He sighed and felt a one million pound weight lift from his chest.

Zuko noticed a bit of hair from her hairline was frizzing out across her forehead, and without thinking, he reached out and softly brushed them away from her skin. A sound came from her throat and without opening her eyes, she groggily reached out and lightly covered Zuko's scar with the palm of her hand.

"Mom?" she murmured hoarsely.

Zuko's good eye sadly narrowed and he took her hand. He set it back down onto its resting place on her stomach and sat down next to her. He wondered what he was going to do and how he was going to find a way out with a sleeping Azula that would attack him the minute she woke up.

At some point, he fell asleep.

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 _ **chap. fin**_


	2. A New Kind of Fire

**A/N: Oh my god oh my god oh my gooddddd! Thank you so much to NikkitaTheMetahuman, ArrayePL, DoctorWho41,** **N3phtys** **and Amadine!** **(To Nikkita, thanks for the suggestion!)** **I've literally never gotten so much support this quickly after posting a story! Anyhoo, thanks again, and enjoy!**

 **A** **nother quick note, I recommend this song: Whithe and Noctilucent – Home. It inspired me to write this so... Listen to it. ._.**

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 **Home**

 **Chapter Two: A New Kind of Fire**

* * *

" _Alright!" a five year old Azula shouted, "Let's do the part where I, the Dragon Emperor becomes a dragon again, and defeats you, the horrible water spirit!" she finished with a dramatic point to her brother Zuko._

" _Hey, why do I always have to be the dark water spirit?!" Zuko exclaimed exasperatedly._

" _Because I am mighty!" Azula shouted at the top of her lungs. As she yelled this, she curled her arms to flex her nonexistent muscles._

 _The six year old boy groaned and flopped down onto the hot sands of Ember Island._

 _It was their fourth year to have visited the island. It was the fourth year their mother and taken them to see that_ Agni-awful _play that the Ember Island Players had performed. Zuko sighed and stretched his limbs, breathing in the salty air. He didn't want to be the water spirit... And a nap on top of a sand dune sounded good right-_

" _GET OFF YOUR BUTT AND PLAY WITH ME!" Azula screamed into his ear._

 _He jumped and yelped, landing back down to hit his head on the ground. He rubbed the ear she had yelled into and heard a ringing inside._

" _Alright, alright!" he yelled back, annoyed. "Geez..." he muttered under his breath._

 _He propped his arm back to push himself up, but was stopped when Azula held out her hand like he did to her every year they came here. He looked up at her face to see her smile and nod. He took her hand and hoisted himself up with her assistance. They both stood there for a second, their hands still joined, relishing the nostalgia the action had given them._

 _After a few moments, they both let go and got into their positions for the scene._

" _Wretched Water Spirit!" Azula yelled while pointing at Zuko, "Now that I have escaped your curse and regained my true nature, you shall pay for you trickery!"_

" _Have you learned nothing from your time amongst the mortals?" Zuko retorted, "By threatening me, you invite your own doom!"_

 _They both pretended to bend water and fire at each other, making quiet explosion sound effects with their mouths. After this, Azula stopped and stared intensely at her brother, as if she was thinking about something. A few more seconds of staring, a mischievous glint caught her eye._

Oh no. _Zuko thought._

" _Azula?" she started sprinting towards him, "Azula what-OOF!" she tackled him to the ground._

" _I am not Azula!" she screamed, "I am the Dragon Emperor!"_

 _Z_ _uko laughed and leaped up, shoving her down onto her back. She giggled and grabbed his arms, trying but failing to push his much larger frame off of her. This resulted in a power struggle that had them trying to push each other's arms to the side. With them being on the edge of a sand dune, it was not a very good idea, in retrospect._

 _With a good shove, Zuko succeeded in throwing them off the edge of the giant sand dune and tumbling down to the shore. They screamed, they yelped, and after awhile, they started giggling. The fear and surprise faded away and was replaced by a tremendous feeling of joy._

 _Half a minute passed and they were at the bottom of the hill._

 _After a few moments of heavy breathing, they both looked at each other. They were covered from head to toe in thick, rough, itchy sand. They both burst out laughing, pointing at each other and babbling incoherent words about how frazzled the looked. Zuko's ponytail had disappeared and he was left with shaggy, unkempt hair that was sticking out in every direction. Azula's hair had come out of its usual style and her two long side bangs had merged with her hair._

 _After awhile, they stopped laughing and just stared at each other. The ocean gently growled while the wind whistled in their ears and ruffled their hair._

" _You're so in trouble." Azula said matter-of-factly._

" _As if!" Zuko countered, crossing his arms. At that second, a fire seagull flew over head._

Splat! _A white liquid landed on_ _to_ _Zuko's head. Azula_ _stared with her mouth open before bursting into laughter again. Zuko made an incoherent noise of disgust in his throat. After a few seconds, a cry of a bird was heard and the same white_ _stuff landed in Azula's ever-so-perfect hair._

 _The princess shrieked and screamed, "Ew!"_

 _It was Zuko's turned to laugh. After his laughter died out, they just sat there,_ _silently_ _fuming over the gross stuff on their head's._

 _Almost an hour later, Ursa's frantic search for her children came to an end when she found them at the bottom of a large sand dune. When she noticed that_ _there was_ _sand coming out of their noses and bird feces in their hair, she just decided not to ask._

* * *

Azula's yellow eyes snapped open. It took a few seconds for her unusually-groggy mind to clear. After coherent thought was natural, she sat up. The princess tried not to think about the dream she had just had. That was one of the only... _Pleasant_ memories she could remember. Even though she hated to admit it, she was glad she had dreamed that dream. She slowly sat up and blearily looked around, only to find a forested area with a fallen tree and scorch marks blackening the lime green grass.

"Fath..." a scratchy, hoarse voice mumbled.

Her head snapped to her left. There, almost touching her, was Zuko. His mouth was partially open and his face was scrunched up into a small frown. Sweat was abundant on his alabaster skin and the salty droplets cascaded down his scar slowly. His large frame was curled into a ball. Her eyes widened. _When did_ he _even get here?_ her mind wondered. Azula's head raced as she weighed her options.

She could leave her brother and try and find her way out alone, she could...

 _No._ she immediately thought. She turned back to look at his face once more. No. Killing him would... Be the wrong thing to do.

"Ugh. You're going soft, Azula." she muttered to herself. The princess sighed and began considering her options again. She could go on alone, go with him, and... Oh. That's it.

She cursed and unconsciously pulled a leaf from out of one of her bangs. At that moment, her brother started whispering incoherent words again. It started with things her ears couldn't make out. Words merged together or not spoken clearly enough to hear. Then, as the dream apparently got more and more violent, his words got more and more clear.

"Mom... Don't go..." he curled tighter into a ball and grimaced.

Azula's stomach suddenly felt a cold sensation, like she had swallowed a large piece of ice.

She blinked. The feeling was foreign. She felt sick, and wanted it to be gone.

Somewhere in her mind, an instinct emerged to shake Zuko awake. She reached over and grabbed his shoulder, shook him, and then deftly retracted the hand. He gently squeezed his eyes and they slowly opened, taking in the sight of his sister.

"Oh, uh..." he quickly pushed himself up from the ground and rubbed his good eye.

They stared at each other, the deafening silence of the Forgetful Valley overtaking them. Azula rolled her eyes. She supposed she _had_ to say something.

"Good morning... Brother." she said, blinking at the unfamiliar words that were tumbling out of her mouth.

* * *

It wasn't until noon when Aang finally got back.

Zuko and Azula were nowhere to be found. He had checked the entirety of Hira'a, the outskirts, and three miles of surrounding land. There were no leads, no signs that gave him any indication to where the two siblings could be. Trying to search further now would be futile since he was exhausted.

He landed at Ursa and Ikem's house. When Katara came outside to see how he was doing and if he had found any clues, he was already asleep.

The former Fire Lady was saddened to hear of this.

The entire night, she had been in shock, taking in everything that had happened after she left. Ozai had scarred her son's face, and banished him because of supposed _weakness_. Zuko was then sent on a wild goose chase to catch the Avatar that his father thought would never show up. Her blood had boiled because of the fact that she had still thought he was in power, but that feeling was quelled once she heard the rest of the story where Aang came in.

And now, her children had disappeared. Right when she was sure she had found them again.

* * *

"Good... Morning?" Zuko replied. He hadn't expected _those_ words to come out of her mouth.

The same silence enveloped them again. Both of them had something to say, but they were afraid to speak. One wrong word could trigger a violent reaction, something one obviously didn't want and another secretly. Yellow met yellow and in a heartbeat, a wave of uncertainty drifted over them.

Neither of them knew what the other was going to do. Conversation was going to be a minefield.

Soon, Azula grew tired of the silence.

"Why did you follow me?" she asked, searching his eyes for any indication of a lie.

He thought for a moment. Why _did_ he follow her? Most of what she had done in their lives had caused him grief. And yet he still, without any second thought, headed into the forest after her.

After a few seconds, he answered, "I couldn't let you go out here alone. You could've been... _Killed_ or have gotten lost or something." she stared at him with a surprised expression before it morphed into a look that said, "Really? You thought _I_ would be killed?"

"And, uh, you're my family," he added quickly, "So... I couldn't let you do whatever you were going to do on your own."

"Do you have any idea what I was going to do?" Azula asked in a thick, tired voice.

"Well, no," Zuko replied, "But, I want to help you in any way I can. You need me as much as I need you. I can't just do everything by myself... And neither can you, Azula. So, I'm helping you. As a friend, as a brother..." he paused as if thinking, "And as something deeper. Something I can't explain with words."

Azula blinked and looked away. Her face was hidden from him, so he couldn't tell what she was thinking. An eternity passed, them just sitting in the eery silence of the forest. A small gust of wind passed and ruffled the trees, blowing unusually cold air onto them. The princess shivered, and then suddenly sniffled, wiping her face hurriedly.

She turned around to face him, her eyes now puffy and bloodshot.

"Can I tell you?" the princess asked, "Can I trust you to help me? To be there every step?

"I promise you, Azula. I'll be there. Every step." he immediately replied. It was a one-hundred percent, honest answer. No hesitation, no regret, just fierce, fiery determination.

She stared into her brother's eyes. They were her exact eyes, yet they held something different. Some sort of... Fire. Not a cold or hot fire, nor a fire of any color. It wasn't like the spark that the Fire Sages looked for in newborns' eyes. It wasn't hotter than Azula's blue blaze, or colder than Ozai's lightning. It was his own. A fire that spoke the words, **"I am Zuko."**

It was at this moment that Azula realized that her brother was never weak like she had taunted them about in their childhood, nor was he strong like she had admitted the previous night. He was both. There was no fine line for him; he was just Zuko. Human.

Like she was...

Her stomach twisted. She and Zuko were the same. Two peas in a pod, just on different sides of the complex spectrum that was the Fire Nation Royal Family.

"Azula?" her mind whirled back into focus. Zuko was still looking at her, his eyes concerned. She released the breath she was holding and peeled her eyes from her brother's, now choosing to focus on one of the scorch marks caused by her enraged escape attempt.

"I..." she began hesitantly, "I was trying to escape everything and just travel the world."

Zuko's eyes widened and he continued to stare at her as she hugged her knees up to her chest.

"You and I both have something in common, you know," she continued, "We've traveled most of the world. Not for enjoyment or for vacation or a break. We were doing it under _Father's_ orders. You to capture the Avatar, and me to capture you and Uncle. You and I were both constantly on the chase, and you constantly on the run after the Siege..." she trailed off.

"But when I heard about you running off from the Fire Nation during the eclipse to go join the Avatar, I felt a sort of envy," she muttered, "You stood up to father. You had struck back from how he had tormented you. And after that, you were free. You had adventures and... _Fun_ with the Avatar's group."

Zuko's good eye widened.

"I never had that," Azula admitted, "And even though I wanted to be free, Father's promises of power were too tempting to be thrown away."

She finally looked up from the black grass and into Zuko's eyes again.

"But now we don't have to listen to Father anymore. We could do anything! Travel the world, not to capture a twelve year old boy or to conquer the Impenetrable City..." she breathed in once, "But to travel the world and _just_ travel the world. Not for anyone but ourselves."

The Fire Lord thought for a moment. Leaving his nation to travel the world wouldn't be a very smart move. Especially with Uncle in charge... He grimaced at the possibilities of all the tea related holidays his uncle could create for the Fire Nation in his absence.

But... A promise _was_ a promise.

"Sounds perfect." he finally said. For the briefest moment, Azula's face elated and a crooked, yet beautiful smile crossed her face. Unfortunately, she instinctively stopped smiling after she remembered her strict childhood training from Ozai.

"I have some conditions though," he stated after a few seconds. In response, she raised one eyebrow, "After traveling the world, I want you to come home with me. I don't want you locked up in the mental institute..."

She looked at him with a strange expression and searched his face. He wondered if she thought he was lying.

"I'm fine with that." she replied, looking satisfied enough. Zuko smiled and nodded, finally relaxed and content. After a moment, his curiosity got the better of him.

"So..." he began, "Where's our first stop?"

Azula looked away as if she was thinking for a moment, as if she was thinking of all the places in the world she could go to. After a minute, she turned her head back and looked into his fiery eyes.

"Tell me, Zuzu, have you ever been to Fire Fountain City?" she asked.

* * *

 **chap. fin**


	3. Destiny's Way

**A/N: I send my thanks to IceWhisker21, Gorath089, Sunshine-Midnight123, ademolix, kreeft123xx, iron aegis, Guest(s), and Nikkita again! Your support is increasing my drive to write and this much support is so amazing so thanks again! New OC's and people for our favorite two misfits to meet! Please read the A/N at end of chapter and enjoy!**

* * *

 **Home**

 **Chapter Three: Destiny's Way**

* * *

" _Zuko, say hello to your little sister." Ursa softly told her son as she held the bundle wrapped in towels that was her daughter. The two year old boy peeked at the tiny face and backed away quickly. He had seen his face, his eyes, just like when he looked at the water in the turtle duck pond._

 _The mother of two giggled and murmured, "It's okay, my love. Greet her."_

 _Prince Zuko peeked again and whispered a shy, "Hello..."_

 _Baby Azula stared at her brother in wonder with her bright yellow eyes before gurgling and then sneezing. After the new-found discovery that she could sneeze and gurgle, the day-old Fire Princess started crying in confusion. The prince winced and covered his ears at the loud sound that was intruding his brain and hurting his ears. The Fire Lady smiled and started rocking her daughter, shushing her gently and whispering words of comfort._

* * *

Getting there was easy.

Zuko had luckily kept a small pouch of bronze, silver, and gold pieces in one of his pockets before leaving to go find his mother in case of emergency. This money had helped them get disguises, food, and a boat ride from a small port town east of Hira'a.

The ride took a day, which was almost nothing to the sea-wary siblings.

Zuko's disguise consisted of a long black hood that was able most of his face, hiding the distinct scar he bore. He wore a maroon tunic with a gold trim, similar to the one he wore during his time training Aang. The Fire Lord had taken the Fire Crown off on his head and had left it in the Forgetful Valley. He was adamant about keeping it with him, his sister had convinced him that hiding it would be an inconvenience, and that if anyone caught them with it they would immediately have to return home.

Azula's outfit consisted of a red and pick, snug robe that had a sash tied at her waist. Her hair was (somewhat forced by Zuko) taken out of its normal bun and put into a short, two-inch ponytail with the rest of her it shoulder length. It was just to be certain that no distant Fire Nation official would recognize them.

The two siblings had mutually agreed on going by new names to further discourage any suspicions as to who they were. After some thought, Zuko picked the name, "Kuzon". He slightly remembered Aang telling him about someone with that name after he had freed him from Pohuai Stronghold. Azula had scoffed at the idea, but finally and chose the name, "Rize".

"This short phoenix-tail makes me look like a peasant!" she complained for the thousandth time as they stepped off from the ship and onto the huge dock. The afternoon sun burned as it heated the bodies of anyone outside.

Zuko rolled his eyes and replied, "You'd be too recognizable with a topknot, Az-uh, Rize."

"Put more thought into what you say, _Kuzon_." she muttered back as travelers walked by. Zuko sighed and set the bag containing their belongings down, stretching and smelling the distinct scent of a bustling Fire Nation city. In one big area right next to the dock that the Fire Lord assumed was the marketplace, vendors and shopkeepers were calling out from their stands and businesses to city-goers, urging them to buy or look at something.

The atmosphere of the town was a breath of fresh air compared to the dry one Royal Palace and the calm of Hira'a. After staring at the marketplace for some time, Zuko peeled his eyes from it and looked at her sister. A content, rare smile had reached her lips as she watched the marketplace burst and pop with liveliness.

The Fire Lord grinned softly at the sight, and at that moment, she turned, noticing he had seen her smiling. A surprised look now flitted across her face and she looked away quickly, looking mildly nervous. Her eyes held an unsure expression, and she blinked.

"Come on," she spoke with a wavering voice, "Let's explore."

Zuko nodded and picked up the bag. He put it over his shoulder and they started walking, looking at all of the things that were in the city. There were restaurants, inns, firebending competitions, and even auctions for ancient calligraphy works.

He had nearly had to restrain Azula from participating in a competition, saying that her distinctly colored fire would give them away immediately.

As they continued their trek through the town, vendors began to hassle them about buying cheap knock-offs and "priceless" items that were at an unbelievably low price. After the pair politely (Zuko) and rudely (Azula) declining the offers, they were eventually stopped by a crazed looking, thin man with a short beard and mustache, messy brown hair, and light gray eyes. He hadn't come from any stall or shop, it just seemed as if he popped out of nowhere. Just above Azula's height and shorter than Zuko, he had to tilt his head up to address the scarred teenager.

"Hello there, citizens!" he greeted in an overly friendly voice.

"Oh um," Zuko began, startled, "Hello."

The man chuckled and pulled a thin wooden rectangle out of nowhere. "The name's Hahn Xi, but you two can just call me Hahn if you'd like!" he handed the piece of wood to Zuko, and on it was the man's name scratched intricately. Under the mans name in fine print were the characters for, "Salesman Extraordinaire!".

The Fire Lord looked back up to find the man pulling a box out of a pocket. Hahn opened it and several assortments of jewelry appeared, including traditional head pieces, braces, and neck pieces.

"Anything you might want to be for your lovely girlfriend here?" he asked, his head gesturing to Azula. Zuko's eyes widened and for some reason, he didn't have any idea how to reply to the question this strange man had asked. His sister, on the other hand, knew exactly how.

"I'm nobody's girlfriend!" she defended, poking her finger in the man's chest, "You have no right to assume that about me!"

Hahn's eyes widened and he took a step back, obviously not expecting this violent of a reaction.

"I'm sorry Miss, I-"

"No!" Azula interrupted, "Don't apologize to me! Now, me and my _friend_ will not be buying from anyone in this market, especially you!"

And with that, she grabbed an astonished Zuko by the collar of his tunic and started dragging him away from the desperate salesperson. He made a noise of protest and tried to pry her hand off, but she had an iron grip and was not letting go as if it meant life or death. After a few seconds of trying to get her to stop dragging him, he craned his head back around to Hahn and saw the man snickering, moving his hand as if he was cracking a fire-whip.

The Fire Lord snarled in irritation at the insult to his masculinity and started to try and push her hand away, but made no impact like before. Soon, she sharply turned left and tugged him into a dark alleyway. The orange, hot glow of the sun dipping into the horizon made the shadows seem darker than they actually were.

Azula finally released him and he stood there for a second, breathing hard from the attempts to get her to release him.

"You didn't have to drag me!" he whispered intensely, scowling at her smug smirk.

"If you say so, brother." she replied, her smirk widening. He sighed and dragged a hand over his face, tired and wanting to sleep. He inhaled gently and leaned against the alley's wall, crossing his arms. His yellow eyes met an almost identical color when they reached the sky. The two siblings stood there, listening to the exciting energy of the marketplace die down as the sky was in transition from gold to red.

The princess let out a huff of air and spoke, "We have to pretend to be just friends and not siblings. Just to further deter any suspicion."

He turned towards her, confused at the abruptness of the statement. "Uh," he replied, "Okay? That's fine."

She blinked and stared at him for a moment before saying, "Yes, it's fine."

Zuko was thoroughly confused now. From her nervousness to this, her behavior had been strange for the entire day. But, in all his tiredness, his curiosity about it faded away quickly. He decided it would be best for them to find a room at a hotel and get an early rest. The Fire Lord pushed forward from his position on the wall and walked towards the exit of the alleyway, gesturing for Azula to follow.

"C'mon," he said, "We should find an inn before it gets dark."

She nodded and followed him out of the alley and out into the empty street. They both stopped and looked around, dumbfounded. The town had gone from an exciting, bustling marketplace to a ghost town. No stands, stalls, open doors, or any other people that might have been walking around. The sound of the market was nonexistent, replaced with an eery silence accompanied with a quiet. light breeze.

"Where'd everyone go?" Zuko asked, turning his head to look at his sister. Azula sighed. He really should of payed more attention when they were kids and learning about the archipelago.

"Fire Fountain City is the hub of crime in the Fire Nation, Kuzon," she replied, "Everyone that isn't a criminal holes themselves up in their homes at sundown." Her brother nodded slowly as he vaguely remembered the dry, ancient teacher who had taught them that.

He breathed in and turned to walk down the street. "Well, let's go."

Azula tucked a bang behind her ear and followed her brother further into the dangerous, giant city.

* * *

"What are we gonna do?" Sokka groaned as he put his face in his hands.

Aang scowled angrily and turned around to yell, "Complaining about it isn't going to help anything, Sokka!"

The Water Tribe teenager sat up and opened his mouth to retort sarcastically, but shut it quickly from one warning glare from his sister. He sighed and laid back down, watching the evening sky move above him. They had been flying for a day, searching any of the landscape for Zuko and Azula. The scary thing wasn't that there was no trails or any evidence that they went anywhere. The scary thing was that when Aang had contacted his past Avatars, they had responded with confusing and chilling answers.

He had sought Kyoshi first since she was the most practical that he knew of, but she had responded with the words, _"Their path is not one to be interfered with."_ And with that, she disappeared into a flash of dumb, bright-blue spirit dust.

Yangchen was next, since she was the most similar to him in his world views, but she had basically said the same thing. Even it was in a more gentle tone than Kyoshi.

" _I am sorry, Aang. The spirits cannot alter your friends' path, not when destiny has become so attached to it."_

Avatar Kuruk seemed more laidback about the matter, but Aang guessed that was just in his nature. He had said, _"They'll be fine, and so will the world. I recommend you to stop your search for the Fire Lord and focusing your attention on the other world's problems. Destiny will take good care of them."_ He had done the dust-vanish thing after that, leaving the airbender too confused to even think straight. What did they even mean about destiny doing this?!

After much thought, Aang tried looking deeper inside of himself. An hour of meditation later, and he found an Air Nomad that lived far in the past. He was a tall man with a black mustache that curled at the tips. The young Avatar noticed that the man's arrow had a different shape, squaring off at the end with a dot below it.

" _Hello, Aang. I am Avatar Ta Xu," he had said, "You are conflicted over something. Care to tell me about it?"_

" _My friend, Fire Lord Zuko, and his sister have gone missing," the younger replied, "And I'm confused. There's no trace, not one sign that they had left or stayed anywhere. It's like they just vanished. All of the other Avatars have told me that they can't help me and that destiny has interfered." The older scrunched his eyebrows for a moment and then seemed to have an epiphany._

" _Ah, yes," he excitedly murmured,"Back in my time, the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes grew very angry at each other. The Water Tribes had citizens who wanted to move into the Earth Kingdom and establish colonies due to the lovely mild climates. But, the Earth Kingdom saw this as a threat and a declaration of war, just as it saw the attacks by the Fire Nation in Avatar Roku's and your time."_

 _He breathed in, "Anyway, I had to interfere and thankfully, a war did not happen. But, about three years after the near catastrophe, my friend and her brother from the Earth Kingdom went missing. No trace, to trail, just like a wisp of smoke disappearing into pure air. I searched day and night for them, but to no avail. I finally gave up and resumed my duties as the Avatar. Then, one day, they returned to the Earth Kingdom. They did not say what happened, but all they said was that they had an incredible journey." Aang raised an eyebrow and waited for him to elaborate._

 _Ta Xu continued, "I asked the spirits about this. They told me that destiny has a way of putting things back together. Whether it is an ecosystem, the entire world, or even families." The most recent Avatar looked up at Ta Xu, finally piecing together what the elder was saying._

" _You must let them find their own way, Avatar Aang..."_

He had vanished after that. Aang had never been more befuddled in his life.

* * *

The sky was purple and green by the time the underworld had started creeping out from the shadows of the city.

First, a shady looking figure had leered at the siblings from an alleyway before turning away and disappearing into the black. After that, a group of shadows had skulked behind them in their path, following them wherever they turned.

Everywhere they were at, something was following, watching, or hearing them. Zuko noticed that the growing mob was inching closer behind him and Azula, yellow, brown, and gray eyes staring at them with the intent to harm. He realized that they must have been the only ones out at the point of the night. He sighed and widened his stride, taking a hold of his sister's forearm and dragging her at a quicker pace.

She snarled in protest and tried to rip her arm free, but his grip would not let go. After a few tugs, she gave up with a huff of annoyance.

The sky was black now, and the only light they had were the dim lanterns that were at the ends of each road. The windows of the houses at the sides of the streets were dark, no one seeming to be home. He arrived at a lantern and took a hard left, to see a bright light coming from a window from one of the buildings.

A horde of criminals slowly approached them, jeering and shouting indecipherable threats. Zuko took off sprinting towards the lighted building, pulling Azula with him. The mob moved after them, pursuing at a horrendously quick pace.

In an adrenaline-rushed eternity, he and his sister made it to the door of the lighted building. They turned around to find a crowd of the city's scum surrounding them in every direction but from behind.

Azula dropped into a stance and whispered, "I'm tired of running! We can take them!" The madness from their fight in Hira'a had returned to her eyes.

Zuko shook his head and muttered, "We could, but we'd have to firebend! We can't do that right now!"

He reached behind him and rapped on the door desperately, praying the spirits that someone would let them in. The crowd closed in and the darkness slowly consumed them. Azula began to get ready to punch out a fireball at the front of the crowd, but the door behind them violently flung open.

Light flooded the dimly lit outside and a pair of hands grabbed the siblings, causing noises of surprise from them and pulling them into the house. The criminal's faces filled with fear and they ran away, clearly afraid of what had grabbed the new travelers. One after another, they scampered out and into the shadows, the person at the door slamming it closed once every one of them were gone.

Faraway, on a blood-red roof, a huge, hooded figure watched. He scowled and jumped into the shadows. He had time.

* * *

 **chap. fin**

* * *

 **A/N: Hey, guys. Sorry, I don't usually post notes at the end of the chapter but I really need some help. Since it's October is here, I'd like to do a small filler chapter or some chapter tied to the story that's Halloween themed or has horror elements with humor thrown in. It would be after this mini-arc in Fire Fountain City of course. I need some prompts, so, if you wouldn't mind, please PM me something cute or something you would like to see! Thank you. ~ IDHF.**


	4. Incandescence

**A/N: You guys are amazing. You really are. My first few stories have never gotten this much support and to get it, it makes me feel like my writing serves more of a purpose than to quell my boredom. This chapter has made me research a bunch of things that have to do with this chapter, so expect something big! I give my thanks to Alissa21, Kapellan23, The Justice and Death, vicchavez, Adrimore, DIZ00, MSG1000, Nofixedabode, crazyaboutto, IxPinkRoses, Guest, and, last but not least, Nikkita! Please enjoy!**

* * *

 **Home**

 **Chapter Four:** **Incandescence**

* * *

 _A whisper. That was what it was. Perhaps, it was a soft breath of relief being released into the night air._

 _A finality._

 _But, as soon as it had come, it left. Never to be seen again for many years._

 _She would have been thrilled to know, if she ever did. Its disappearance meant her rise to fame. It meant_ Her. _But, it was not his weakness or her strength that was the cause. They had none of those things. Destiny's mischief had made this._

 _This struggle._

 _He never told anyone about that night in the gardens. Not his sister, not his father, his uncle, his cousin, even his beloved mother. The pain of losing the hiss of green, the flash of white that told him he was meant to do great things. Not the cold black that, despite its chill, soothed every plant in the garden, nor the purple and gold that soared freely into the warm night air._

 _Never._

* * *

The breath was almost literally thrown out of Zuko's lungs as his back hit the ground. That's what it felt like anyway.

Hisses of the criminal underbelly were heard as they scrambled away from whatever had answered the door. The Fire Lord was almost afraid to look at his and Azula's savior, since whoever it was had scared them away so easily. He pushed himself up from the ground with his elbow and saw the back of the man.

He was a very large person, that much was obvious. He had large arms bulging with muscle and veins. One of the limbs grabbed the door and slammed it shut, filling whatever place they were in with silence.

The man stood with his back turned to the siblings before turning around to look at them, giving Zuko a clear view of his face. His skin was a deep tan, with a few specks of white dotting his face. He had a giant, brown beard, with a shaved head and bushy eyebrows. The face was drawn into a tight scowl as the man stared at them with seemingly black pupils.

After a few seconds of silence and observing, Zuko peeled his eyes away from the eery man to look at Azula. The same wild, feral look was in her eyes. Her chest was heaving up and down sporadically, and her mouth was clenched into an angry snarl.

Mentally, he prayed to Agni for her to look at him, even though that would probably make it worse with his experience..

Luckily, she did. Identical eyes met each other and her snarl weakened immediately. Her seemingly uncontrollable, angry breathing slowed down as she stared at him with eyes that held a gaze of uncertainty now mixed with the crazy. After holding his breath for what seemed like an eternity, Zuko released it when the manic, sharp gaze in her eyes fully dulled. She exhaled and turned away from him, choosing to look at the behemoth of a man that had pulled them to safety.

He was in the same exact same spot, still staring, and still silent.

"Who are you?" the princess asked, not one for thanking people. The man looked at her for a moment, and then stood, pointing at something beyond the two siblings. They turned around and saw a section of the wooden floor and walls replaced with stone. Swords, helmets, armor, and other sorts of metal objects lined the simple walls. The heat of a forge hissed as if it knew the two were looking at it.

"Sm-Smith," he answered with trouble, still scowling, "Bl-Black-Smith." His voice was deep and gravelly.

Azula frowned in annoyance and turned around, replying, "I meant your name, peasant. What do people call you around here?"

His scowl lessened as if he was in thought, but he never said anything.

The princess sighed, turning to him and saying, "Kuzon, you're more experienced with this kind of thing, right? How about you explain who we are and... Ask for services, or something." Azula pushed herself up off of the wooden floor and stood up, tilting her head to the side slightly.

He nodded and got up, flipping his hood back up to cover his scar.

"Uh, hello," Zuko stated awkwardly, "I'm Kuzon, and this is my friend Rize," he introduced lamely, gesturing to himself and his sister. "See-We're um, new here. And we had no idea what this place is like at night. So we were wondering if you could-"

"Lee!" a voice called.

Out of the shadows of the room, a small flame appeared, illuminating a pale wrinkled face. When this face came closer to the light, it became more apparent who this was. She was old, that was for sure. Wrinkled, small, pale, and frail, almost like Lo and Li. But, there was a distinct beauty about her. The way she walked gave the impression that she carried the most gentle soul living in the world.

She stopped short when her brown eyes recognized Zuko and Azula.

"Oh, you've brought guests have you?" she inquired to the giant, "Silly you! You brought them in through the shop!"

He grunted, as if trying to tell her to stop embarrassing him. She giggled and focused her attention back to the siblings, who were shifting uncomfortably.

"Hello, children," she greeted softly, giving the traditional salute, "It is an honor to have you at our humble abode. You _will_ be staying the night, yes? Things can get awful out there at night, and I know it's chilly out there. Winter's just around the corner, you know!"

Without waiting for an answer to any of her questions, she ushered them to follow her and walked back into the shadows, lighting a flame as she disappeared into the darkness. Zuko and Azula both looked at each other before nodding in agreement and following her. It had been a long day, and they needed a place to rest. They walked into the shadows, trusting the tiny bit of flame.

"What are your names?" the lady called.

Zuko opened his mouth to respond, but to his surprise, Azula answered with, "Kuzon and Rize."

"Ah, Kuzon?!" she exclaimed quietly, "That's a name that I haven't heard since I was a child! Very old... Back when the slang was a lot more flamin'!"

The Fire Lord barely restrained himself from groaning. First Aang, and now this old lady!

"Well, you two can just call me Lao." she continued, "My grandson's name is Lee. Named after his father. He's as strong as a tiger-ox but he's... Well, what you call, challenged. He has trouble speaking sometimes and understanding things. So, if you would, please be patient when talking to him. He gets upset when he makes people inpatient."

The two siblings nodded, one caring significantly more than the other.

After taking a turn down the long hallway, they were greeted by a source of light. As they got closer, Zuko recognized it as a kitchen, with a table, pantries lining the walls and a wooden cutting board left forgotten on a stone counter. Candles dimly flickered the shadows of the room. Lao quietly extinguished the fire in her palm as she entered the room.

"Are you two nonbenders?" she asked carefully, pulling out a chair and sitting down, gesturing for them to do the same.

"Yes." Zuko replied quickly, not wanting Azula's pride to answer honestly. The two sat down at the table.

"Ah," she mused, "Then, you must be new to this city. Everyone here knows that it's unsafe at night, especially for nonbenders. The only people out at night are the guard and the Underworld; and usually some poor, unlucky traveler who gets robbed or killed. Agni, you two don't even have weapons! It's a good thing Lee heard the commotion outside, or you two might have been done for."

 _Or exposed._ Zuko's mind thought cynically.

"The Underworld?" Azula asked, "Is that just a general term for criminals?"

The woman shook her head. "No, it's not. The Underworld is the largest gang in North Chung-Ling. It's-"

"Wait, North Chung-Ling? I thought we were talking about Fire Fountain City." Zuko interrupted.

Lao chuckled and replied, "Well, boy, I can't blame you for being so ignorant about the Fire Nation before Ozai started ruling. You two must have been so young when he took the throne."

The two siblings both winced as they thought of that fateful night.

"Ozai... Is a terrible man," she continued, "He changed the Fire Nation in ways you two cannot imagine. Polluted its air, its waters... And its people. Sozin and Azulon were awful two, but they at least had some sympathy for their land and people inside their black hearts. You can see what Ozai has done still today, with children still instilled with the ideas that every other person other than people of the Fire Nation are inferior.

"The man was so arrogant that he ordered a statue built of himself in the town square. Then, he ordered the city's name to be changed. Before him, this place was called North Chung-Ling. We old folks have tried to petition to take down the statue and change the name back to what it once was, but, the request has yet to reach the capital."

Zuko nodded, putting that in the back of his head. He would be sure to change that when he got back.

"Anyway," Lao quietly stated, "The Underworld is the biggest group of criminals in the city. The mayor says the City Guard has it under control, but he and they are just figureheads. They're bribed daily and they just turn the other way to everything the gang does. The Underworld is really the group that rules this place. They decide what happens, how it happens, and who it happens to. No one is truly safe, since there's so many of them. And... Lee's one of their main targets of abuse."

The teenagers looked at each other with wide eyes. They had no idea about how bad it was here. Azula obviously knew about the crime, but there was nothing about the political corruption written in the history books.

"He does it for me..." the grandmother whispered sadly, "They say if he gives them weapons without word and pay, that they'll leave me alone. Luckily, he still scares them to death and-"

"We can help," Azula blurted without a second thought. She stood up and reiterated, "Me and my friend, we're good with weapons. Very good. We can help the city and take down the Underworld. You and your grandson would be safe. We just need weapons."

Zuko stared at his sister with his mouth open in surprise. Never before had she shown any interest in helping other people. Agni, even _he_ wasn't planning on trying to help anyone. Lao looked up at the girl with a disgruntled look before letting it soften into a warm smile.

"Oh, that's very sweet of you to offer dear," she said, reaching out and taking one of Azula's hands, "But I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I sent children to their deaths. The Underworld is not something to be trifled with, nor to be sought out to try to stop. Many courageous people have tried, and all have failed. And mind you, honey, they were benders. Powerful ones."

"We are powerful." Azula retorted stiffly, pulling her hand out of Lao's gentle grip.

The old woman opened her mouth as if she was going to say something, but then closed it. She sighed and wearily stood up from the chair, moving to the doorway that led to the long hall.

"If you are adamant about this, I cannot stop you, nor can I not appreciate the help," she concluded hoarsely, "Follow me." she walked into hallway, bending the same dim fire to light the way. The princess stood up to follow her but Zuko quickly reached out and grabbed her arm, rooting her in one spot. He heard a sharp intake of breath and saw her torso shudder before she turned to him. In her eyes was a fierce determination that he had only ever seen in a mirror.

The Fire Lord cleared his throat before saying, "Are you sure about this? You didn't train with Piandao. And we're facing hundreds of dangerous criminals here."

"I know my way around a _jian_ , brother." she hissed.

He stood up and stared her down. "And I know my way around dual daos. It's still risky. I want to help anyone here as much as you do, but I can't let you endanger yourself like this. I need to keep you safe."

Azula's sharply lit eyes still held the determined fire, but something else appeared as he said what he did. She stared up at him and scowled, whatever had appeared moments before vanishing immediately. The princess wrenched her arm out of her brother's grip and turned away, inhaling.

"There's no way I'm backing out," she stated, "So you'll just have to join me. Or you won't be able to protect me."

She left the kitchen, leaving Zuko flabbergasted. The Fire Lord stood there for a minute, watching her figure stalk off to Lee's shop. Then, he heard Lao's sweet voice call out to them and ask if they were still coming. He sighed and entered the hallway, blindly following the ball of fire. Once they made it into the forge, he caught up to Azula, catching the neutral expression on her face.

Lao was standing by the hissing forge, it's blazing hot embers shining into her eyes. Lee was sitting on a wooden stool that looked as if it could barely contain his mass and weight. The teenage princess cleared her throat and the old woman's head turned in recognition.

Her brown eyes were serious and grim as she said, "We are putting a great deal of trust in you to survive this. Once Lee makes you a sword, you can't back out of this. He's already made enough swords without pay as it is, you know..."

"Just make the swords," Azula nearly commanded, putting a hand on her waist, "We aren't going to quit on this. All we need is a night's rest and tomorrow night we'll do what we can."

The old woman's wrinkled mouth puckered into a frown of worry before turning to her grandson and nodding. He grunted and stood up from the stool, the old wood creaking and groaning under the humongous pressure. Lee walked over to the forge and gazed into the hot, steaming liquid before facing the siblings.

"Weap-pon an-d mate-r-ial?" he asked to Zuko.

"Dual daos and tungsten, please." the scarred ruler replied, trying to sound as polite as possible.

Lee nodded and walked to a chest, opening it up and pulling out a block of dark gray metal. He held in his hand for a moment, looking at it and the forge. The blacksmith closed his eyes, breathing in smoothly. He held out the block of tungsten, and let it go. Instead of falling into the forge, it stayed there, levitating perfectly still. Zuko and Azula's eyes widened as they watched Lee moved his hands around fluidly, like he was waterbending.

The metal contorted and contracted, moving with his arms' movements. In Zuko's shock, it took him a second to realize that the man was metalbending.

Lao walked up to him, handing him two hilts, with a soft, but proud smile. With the two hilts in one hand, and controlling the tungsten with the other, he spread his fingers outward, lengthening the metal. Once they were the proper length, he used the hand holding the hilts to separate the two and a half foot block into two thin pieces. He then pushed the pieces out to the far end of the forge and separated them even further.

His arms started shaking and he grunted. A loud hiss was heard and the tungsten became the color of the forge's hot liquid.

An overwhelming, suffocating heat filled the room and the siblings backed away from the scalding sensation. Millions of tiny, prickling needles seemed to pierce their skin as the wave of heat washed through the room and crashed back around. The two teenagers saw a blinding light that radiated from the forge and shielded their eyes from its fiery, omniscient gaze. As they tried to protect themselves from the hot, stinging air, Lee was curving the substance and molding it into the shape of dual daos. Any part of the metal that wasn't needed for the swords was thrown into the heat of the forge with the flick of a wrist.

When he was done with shaping, he breathed in and exhaled, pushing the two hot molds onto the hilts. He pushed outward and they rapidly cooled, turning back into metal. The room's temperature flared to an almost unbearable temperature but them immediately cooled down to a tolerable temperature and the hot, stuffy air disappeared. It was finally breathable.

The blacksmith stood still for a second, staring at his new creation, before he turned and faced Zuko. In his hands were the two hilts, held out to him. The Fire Lord looked at the swords in awe before carefully taking them. They were the most beautiful blades he had seen; better than those of Piandao or the Royal Craftsmen. Sharper than the crescent moon and blacker than the night sky, the noir metal reflecting the orange warmth of the forge just like the moon reflected the sun. The hilts were the color of the night, with soft blue fabric tied onto both hilts, the pointed ends of the strips hanging off loosely. In the back of his mind, an image of a mask slowly sinking to the bottom of a lake appeared. His eyes widened and he shook his head.

He stepped to the side and swung, testing out their feel.

" _Perfect balance."_ Zuko thought as he cut horizontally. With each precise, sharp slice, an orange line seemed to follow the swords' paths, almost like light itself couldn't keep up with it. The scarred teenager stopped and looked at the weapons in amazement before putting the swords together in one hand and saluting to Lee, bowing down as far as he could. Meanwhile, Azula was staring at the giant that had just done... Whatever he had done.

"How... Did you do that?" she finally exclaimed, tired of coming up with possible theories.

"Calm yourself, child," Lao's voice softly chided, causing the princess to jump. In all of her shock, she had forgotten about the old woman.

"Lee... Well, he isn't a firebender," she continued, "His father was an earthbender. A very powerful one, who was injured during the war. After a failed invasion of the Fire Nation carried out by the Earth Kingdom, Lee's father was lost at sea after his ship was capsized. He washed up onto the shores of the outer beach, where he was found by a young woman. Then, a few years later, Lee here was born from that same young woman.

"She... Didn't make it through the birth," the grandmother painfully declared, "My daughter was the strongest woman I had ever known. Nobody expected it."

Lao sighed before stepping over to Lee and putting a hand on lower arm.

"When I was a child, they told me that what came out of our volcanoes was liquid fire. They were wrong. Lee's abilities have taught me that what comes from volcanoes comes from the earth... As does the metal that we've created and forged. My grandson can control it... All of it. Even if he isn't the best at speaking, I know for a fact that he's the most powerful earthbender in the world."

As Zuko swallowed all of this information, Azula asked, "Can he turn any type of earth into lava at will?"

The old woman nodded, smiling gently.

"It's... A shame his powers are being wasted protecting a useless old woman like me..." the smile had disappeared from her face as she said this. Neither Azula or Zuko knew how to respond.

* * *

It was nighttime when Aang, Sokka, and Katara had gotten back from their search. After what Ta Xu had told the airbender, he was confused and in twists about what exactly to do. He trusted the old Avatar's judgment, but Zuko was his friend. Aang couldn't just give up on him. He need definite answers, and fast. Before the Fire Lord and his sister were lost beyond rescue.

He flopped down onto the makeshift bed and let out all the air of his lungs, frustrated with it all.

"Aang!" Katara's voice called, "We need you to come to the living room! We're trying to figure out where to search next!"

The Avatar groaned and hopped off of the bed moodily, stalking off to the living room. Aang's starting years of puberty had been met with sleep deprivation and anger issues. Sokka would try to help with sarcasm, but if he was in a bad mood, it would just make it worse. The airbender finally got the reasoning for the idea for the Avatar to be told what they were at sixteen. He had nearly gone into the Avatar State from rage boiling over. He also understood why Zuko had been so angry and jerky when he was sixteen.

He made it to the living room where Katara, Sokka, and Ursa were sitting in a circle on top of a cleared part of the floor with a large map of the Fire Nation in the middle. Well, calling it a living room wouldn't exactly be correct. Parts of the ceiling were gone from Sokka and Azula's fight on top of the roof. Cabinets were destroyed, the walls held scorch marks, and a part of the it was caved in from what Aang assumed was made by either Zuko or his sister's body. The floor had shards of paper rice, and pieces of the ceiling and floor.

Aang sat down next to Katara, and they started.

"Well, guys," Sokka began, "We've covered pretty much this whole area so far," he circled the area outside of Hira'a, "And we have the rest of the Fire Nation to go."

Ursa narrowed her eyes and objected, "That's unnecessary. They couldn't have gotten far on foot. You're the last one who remembers seeing them, Sokka, and you said that they were fighting in the house. When I followed them out of the house, we were on foot. There would be no reason the two of them would be together on another island in the archipelago."

Sokka frowned and scratched his face, which was now becoming scruffier each day. Aang sighed and mulled over what they should do. He could keep searching the Fire Nation for them, which honestly seemed pointless with no lead or trails. Or, he could take all of the other Avatars' advice and give up. If what Ta Xu said was true, maybe, just maybe, Zuko and Azula would be safe with being away for awhile. The only problem with that would be that Iroh would get suspicious after awhile.

"Aang?" the Avatar snapped out of his thoughts. He looked for the source of his name, and saw Katara staring at him with worried eyes.

"What?" he asked.

"What do you think we should do about this? I mean, you did contact the past Avatars, right? What did they say?"

The tattooed boy cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head. "Well, uh..."

A mother and two siblings stared at him expectantly, probably getting ready to hear an extravagant, Spirit World-esque journey that would ultimately save the siblings and the entire world while they were at it. The teenager sighed and put his head in his hands. He hated it, but he needed to trust their judgment on something as absurd and obscure as this.

"Well, the Avatars... Sortofkindamaybe told me to stop looking for them." he replied lamely.

Their faces showed exactly what he had expected. One surprised, one objective, and one holding the fury and wrath of a mother.

"You listen here." Ursa began lividly, pointing at Aang with a shaking finger and looking at him with dangerously calm eyes.

" _Oh boy..."_ Aang thought.

* * *

Zuko was laying down on the big makeshift futon that Lao had given him, his back to his sister. He eyed the dual daos in their scabbard, staring at the cloth that hung on the grips of the hilts. The same image of the blue mask in the water kept flashing into his mind. The Fire Lord wondered if it was still down there, floating around in the dark abyss that was Lake Laogai.

Azula, on the other hand, was sitting on the other side of the futon, eyeing the sword that she had been given. It was a simple jian made out of steel, balanced, sharp, and light. Perfect for her versatile style.

"Why did you offer to help them?" the princess jumped and turned around. Zuko was now on his back with his head turned towards her. Half of his face and scar paled due to the bright sliver of moonlight that the small window gave off. She stared at him with a surprised expression and then brought a hand to her temple. She massaged the tense spots and sighed, taking the knot out of her hair. The raven lock flowed down to her upper back, and she laid down next to him, pulling the small blanket over half of her body.

"Go to sleep, brother," she said irately, "You need your rest."

"Answer me first." he pleaded.

"No."

"Please?"

The sister of the two made a quiet noise of annoyance and turned left onto her side. Their noses nearly brushed and she pulled back, clearing her throat and looking in in the eyes.

They were expectant, so she answered with, "She... Reminded me of Mom, Zuzu. In a way. I don't know."

"It's not wrong to feel compassion and sympathy, you know. Even if you don't know the person." the Fire Lord replied. She blinked and turned over, facing her back to him. As she did this, her hair gently hit his face and he caught the smell of spice.

"Goodnight, Zuko." she concluded as he blinked. Her hair felt... Silky? Soft? Whatever it was all he knew for certain was that it tickled his face. He backed away to get the strange sensation off of his face and suddenly shivered. He was about to warm himself internally with his firebending, but felt a warm, soft heat that made his insides feel fuzzy and cozy. He immediately relaxed and closed his eyes, falling asleep. It had been a long couple of days. On the other side of the futon, Azula was not asleep.

She was too busy smiling as she focused radiating her body heat towards her brother.

* * *

 **chap. fin**


	5. The Crimson Dragon

**A/N: I apologize for the wait (School's got me fucked up.) Please enjoy, my friends.**

* * *

 **Home**

 **Chapter Five: The Crimson Dragon**

* * *

 _Asylum rooms were dreadfully dull. No windows, nothing interesting. Just a white cot, wooden chair, and a table to boot._

" _Hello, Princess Azula," a quaint, kind voice called out. She looked up from her position mindlessly staring at the floor. Standing in front of the ominously quiet and closed door, was a tall, aging man. Huh, he must have caught her lost in thought. He had a shiny head with no hair, and a "magnum" like mustache. The piece of hair on his lip was black with gray peppered in at some areas. His eyes were a dark shade of gold and had a bright, childish light to them._

Oh, _how she detested him already._

 _After waiting but getting no response, he continued, "I'm Doctor Ahn, but you can just call me Hashi. Whichever you prefer." He waited patiently again, but just got a_ _gl_ _are of pure disgust._

 _The man smiled wryly and said, "Your brother has brought me here to help you, Princess. I_ _'m_ _a healing and chi expert. I will use my abilities to ease your mind and gradually bring you back to sanity. Alas, we won't start with that now. I'd like to ask you a few questions and get to know you so this would be a bit more comfortable for you. Are you okay with that?"_ _The girl shifted, the straightjacket and stiff chair probably being discomforting. The doctor watched her move into a position more for her suiting before talking again._

" _Th_ _e_ _restraining device is uncomfortable, I know. Would you be more willing to talk to me if it was removed?" he inquired._

 _This caused her to bark a humorless laugh. "Tell me, Doctor," she drawled lazily, "What is the definition of insanity?"_

 _He raised an eyebrow in curiosity and asked, "Your case specifically?"_

" _Generally."_

" _Well," he began, "I would say that generic insanity is when a person has lost their sense of rationality or emotional feeling. An example of what an insane person might do is maybe endangering themselves or other people while knowing that fact or simply not even caring."_

 _The princess smirked and replied, "Then, why you, an "expert", claim that_ I _am insane, yet you offer to_ _release me of my straightjacket?"_

 _His normal_ _ly_ _warm eyes turned_ _tepid_ _and he stared at her cold ones with a level gaze. "Azula, I perfectly trust that you would not attack an innocent old man offering you help. I also trust myself to hold my own against someone chi blocked at close quarters. There_ is _a reason that Fire Lord Zuko trusted me to do this."_

 _She said nothing to this, so after a moment, he took a few steps closer to her and said, "I'll take your silence as a yes."_

 _He reached out and unbuckled the straps gently, acting as if he was handling the Fire Nation's most expensive piece of art, Agni's Birth._ _After the last strap was gone, he stepped back and waited patiently. He saw her quickly hunch over and noticed a series of small sizzling noises. His eyes widened and he got into a defensive stance. Blue flames burst away from her sides and scorched the immaculate walls as as the straightjacket nearly exploded from the heat. She leaped at him with a fireball in her hand and punched directly at him face, grinning maniacally._

 _T_ _o her surprise, he sidestepped_ _as quick as_ _an airbender and_ _jabbed her neck with a stiff finger._ _The fire disappeared from her fist and she stared at the enclosed hand with surprise._ _She willed the fire to come to her palm but nothing came. The teenager called to her inner flame and felt the calm, azure flare call back weakly._ _Being able to move whilst not being able to bend was_ _ir_ _regular._

" _You didn't...?" she questioned quietly, stepping back in shock. The princess knew full well of what the airbender had done to her father._

" _Not permanently, child," he replied calmly, "Now, please sit down and talk to me. Even an old man's patience has its limits."_

 _A_ _zula scowled coldly before walking back to her chair and sitting down, crossing her arms. Hashi cleared his throat quietly and stepped over to her cot. He took a seat on the edge of the stiff mattress and put his hands together._

" _I'd like to start by asking how you firebent just then. The staff had told me that you had been chi blocked thirty minutes prior." he stated in a curious voice._

" _Maybe my body just doesn't recognize it as much of a threat anymore, Doctor Ahn." she_ _muttered_ _._

" _What do you mean by that?"_

" _Think about sicknesses, peasant. Over time, the human body adapts to things. Even unnatural things," she smirked dangerously, "My personal record is about twenty minutes after initial blocking. I beat the other crazies by three hours and yet I've only been here for a year."_

" _Mm," the doctor acknowledged with interest, "Alright then. Well,_ _my_ _next question_ _is_ _..."_

* * *

 _The Fire Lord awaited Doctor Ahn in the lobby of the institute._ _As the chi expert strolled down the hall towards Zuko, the scarred teenager's stomach twisted. This was his first attempt to rehabilitate Azula so that she could help find their mother, and he was worried that something would happen to the old man. Hashi's eyes caught his and they lit up in recognition and what seemed like joy. Zuko let out a sigh of relief and waited for the man to reach him._

" _Hello, Zuko," he greeted, giving a salute._

" _Hashi," the leader replied in acknowledgment, "How..."_ _he swallowed his anxiety, "_ _How is she?"_

 _Doctor Ahn smiled once more before saying, "She's just splendid, Fire Lord. Her insanity is much like the one generally seen in the Royal lineage. It allows_ _her_ _to have rationality at most of_ _her_ _activities, but emotional events or breaking points can set off manic behavior. Her curing should be easy for me_ _though_ _, with the new methods I've developed. Although, I do have one request for you." Zuko waited for him to speak the request._

" _Please put her in cuffs and chains_ with _a straightjacket. She nearly burn_ _t_ _my face off." he said with jovial mirth._

 _The teenager blinked before saying dryly, "Noted," he paused, "So, how did she respond to the questions you asked her?"_

" _Well," Hashi began, "She seems to feel nothing for her father. I doubt she has any real emotional connection to him, but... As you know she might not have any emotional ties to anyone at the moment." Zuko thought about this, but the doctor was not finished._

" _The bright part though is,_ _t_ _he person that she could possibly have any connection to is you." The Fire Lord stared at him as if he had sprouted another head from his neck. Her?_ Her _? This was Azula, not any other person that might hate him. The last person she would have emotional ties to was him; Agni, she tormented him during their childhood and attempted to kill him more times than he could count. What Hashi was saying could not be true._

" _I know it is hard for you to believe,_ _Fire Lord_ _," the doctor said, "But I know what I am dealing with here. All of my questions about her emotions pointed towards you. Now granted, some were negative and positive, but the only person she certainly feels anything for is you. And that, is what has m_ _ade me know that she will be so easy to cure. You see, her feeling emotional attachments to you is the next step to her ascending to sanity. She has_ someone _to actually feel something for. And you're right here with her."_

 _Zuko stared at him with wide eyes. He had not considered this. Not one single bit._

" _I can help her, but my chi mending won't be her medicine. She needs_ you _,_ _Zuko_ _. And_ only _you." Doctor Ahn stated with finality. He walked past his nation's leader, leaving the scarred boy in shocked surprise._

* * *

A girl, the age of a teenager, shot up from the immense heat of a lucid state. Sweat glistened on her body and darkened the slate gray linen undershirt that she was wearing. She stared into the nothingness and a soft breath of air escaped her red lips as her irises moved erratically. There, in the black, dark abyss, a tall, overbearing figure stood. Blue fire and lightning roared and crackled from behind him as a cruel gleam tinged his cold yellow eyes. The most prominent part of the man was the Fire Crown that rested atop his head. He stepped towards her, his shadowed face giving no emotion, and reached out a hand, golden orbs shimmering with the promise of power.

She hesitated, a force seemingly holding her back to take the gesture. She wanted power; absolute power, and nothing was holding her back. So what was keeping her from accepting?

Orange fire erupted next to the powerful man, and out stepped another malevolent figure. The shapes and curves of a woman were endowed on the figure's body. This woman's eyes were beautiful and warm, but the girl she stood before could see the underlying emotions. Distrust; disgust; disappointment. She opened a hand and reached out to the sweaty teenager. The glow of the fire promised a peaceful heart, but she could the feel immense pain within the embers.

" **Choose.** " the two figures stated, the tones of their voices god-like.

Her eyes widened as the maleficence grappled around her figure like dark shadows in the moonlight. Bemused and uncertain, the girl squeezed her yellow eyes shut and held her head, voices of her past, future, and present scorching their way into her already hellish mind. The fires flared and the heat intensified, making the cold black of the freezing void broil and cry in agony. She felt the two evils of her world close in on her, heat rising and white light filling the void. The girl screamed and waited for the burning.

 _A light, colorful touch._

The girl's orbs opened in hesitant surprise and she saw a lone silhouette in the sub-zero darkness. Shrouded in a green light, it took her mind a second for it to recognize that the light was fire. One eye of the figure looked as if it was locked in a permanent glare while the other was neutral with a warm emotion showing from a source seep within.

This green shadow knelt down on one knee and reached out, his hand as black as the void they were both in. He waited, his eyes expectant but kindly patient and understanding. The girl did not want to trust him; No, she had been hurt to much for that.

" **Hey, I want you to listen to me,** " he spoke softly, with a distinct, raspy voice, " **Who are you?** "

"I'm..." she whispered, "I am Azula."

" **And who am I?"** his eyes were sharp and inquisitive, naïve, yet full of embers that told a story of a painful, but happy life.

Azula's hand found his and the warmth enveloped her whole entirety. Not just her skin, nor just her heart or her bones. The princess's soul felt alive; she was soaring among the highest of clouds and touching the stars. She was bathing in the most perfectly hot of waters, basking in the sun's most impeccable temperature. The shadow's face was bathed in a green light, revealing a handsome, beautiful man with a large scar. To her surprise, she did not mind the fact the his hand was in hers for one second of it.

"Zuko." the girl breathed.

With a hiss, the fire disappeared with her brother and she was left alone, now surrounded by a room. The teenager blinked and looked around, surrounded by the room she had fallen asleep in the night before. She shook her head and stretched nonchalantly; illusions had been the norm of her life ever since the Comet. She inhaled, thinking of how strange the hallucination had been. Azula didn't know why she so willingly took Zuko's hand, nor did she know why her mind had brought him into the vision. Or how good it felt to hold his hand.

 _Ugh._ She rattled her cranium around again. Spending so much time with her brother and playing nice was getting to her.

The princess noticed that the darkness of the room was slowly getting lighter and stood up. Blood painfully rushed through her legs and down to her feet, eliciting a quiet sniff of annoyance from her. She drew back a curtain from the window she was close to and saw the morning sun peaking out from behind a small factory on the east end of the city. Azula turned back around and looked at the sleeping form of her brother. His medium-length hair was a mess, with the side bangs sticking out in opposite directions. The teenager let an amused puff of air out of her nose and smiled, but immediately stopped in surprise as she realized she was doing it. A strange, tight feeling in her chest formed and she huffed, bending down to pick up her robe from the floor and walking to the bathroom. She needed a bath.

Badly.

* * *

Zuko awoke with a start. Bright amber eyes glazed over for a moment as they stared at the ceiling, but they focused once he realized he was awake. His mouth opened wide in a yawn and he sat up, looking to the right and seeing the blankets askew, and his sister gone. A slight, cold burst of panic flitted past his chest before he calmed himself and realized he had slept in. She was probably eating or meditating.

He wiped a hand over his face and paused, feeling a slight stubble. The Fire Lord cursed himself for not buying a shaving blade before coming to the city. He got up and stretched, walking over and grabbed the black dual broadswords.

The Fire Lord opened the door and walked out into the hallway. There were muffled voices talking, some of the noises being slower than others. Zuko realized that it was coming from the kitchen and headed in that direction. He greeted the closed door with a quick knock and opened it, finding Lee and Lao sitting down at the table, talking to each other. Morning light brightly shone through small windows near the ceiling, illuminating the room and making it look livelier than it did the night before. Lao and her grandson paused, looking up and at the scarred boy. The quiet let the noise of a growing marketplace be heard.

"Good morning, Kuzon," the old woman greeted with a tired, weak smile, "Rize is washing up in the bathroom. How did you sleep?"

"Better than I thought I would," Zuko replied, his voice unintentionally cracking.

"Really? You usually sleep like a rock, so I don't see why you'd be worried." a smug, taunting voice spoke from behind the teenager.

Zuko turned around to face his sister. Her hair was damp, still not in a ponytail, and falling down at her shoulders. Her eyes held the same cruel light as she smiled up at him malevolently, the light in her eyes when she made fun of him as a child. But, as he stared at the luminescence, he noticed a hint of playfulness. Alien to her eyes, it stood out more than ever, causing his mouth to part as he stared at her. Him being oblivious to all else, he jumped when she snapped a finger directly in front of her face.

"Hey-Are you even listening to me?" she asked rhetorically. He blinked and his yellow eyes focused, noticing the annoyed expression on her face.

"Sorry, what were you saying?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes, drawling out, "I was saying that you need to wash up if were going to explore the city some more until tonight. You stink."

"Really? I do?" he lifted his arm and swiftly sniffed his armpit. The boy cringed and drew his face away, suddenly wishing to take a bath also. Huh, smelling Iroh's sandal must have made him immune.

* * *

Clean and fully dressed, Zuko picked up the black sheathe for the dual daos and slid them in, strapping it onto her back. Azula put her hair into the little phoenix-tail and acquired the silver sheathe to put her jian in. It crisply filled the gap with a sharp, cutting noise, and the princess looked in the small mirror, looking at herself in different angles and positions. Finally satisfied, she smirked and stopped, looking at her brother with a curious expression.

He moved his face close to the mirror and examined his face, touching his cheeks and jawline. His fingers trailed down to his chin and suddenly stopped. Her brother's eyes widened before quickly narrowing into a scowl and turning away from the mirror. The digits left his chin and fell down, looking as if they were defeated. The princess still watched with a neutral expression, noticing that he was purposefully looking away from her. After a minute or so of awkward silence, he walked past her and out the door.

She shrugged slightly and followed him out. Zuko flipped his hood up and over his head, hiding his scar. The two siblings walked down the hall and into Lee's shop, where Lao was standing by the door.

"Do take care, you two," she spoke softly, "Don't exert yourselves too bad. You have tonight to worry about."

They nodded, Zuko with a smile, and Azula with a curt, but polite expression. The old woman nodded and hesitantly pulled open the door, gesturing them to walk out of it. The two both did and exited the house, the Fire Lord closing the door behind him.

* * *

As the two explored the morning marketplace, they glanced into alleyways or any other shadowy places they came across to see if there were any places that the Underworld might be. Like Zuko expected, they found none, and by afternoon, both of their stomachs growled at the same time. They jumped and looked at each other, faces pink.

"Want to get lunch?" the scarred teenager asked.

The girl nodded and they walked off, looking for food stalls. Luckily, they were near the food hub of the city, so they stumbled across it after only walking a few blocks. Roast duck, crab, fish, and rice seemed like the most popular food of the city, with chefs and sellers yelling at Zuko and Azula to try theirs out. After much debate and a death glare, Azula made the final call of what they would be eating that afternoon; komodo chicken with rice and bread. The two made their way to what looked like a wide alley, but dropped off onto a lower street.

They sat down on the ledge and ate, enjoying the busy noises of the market behind them in silence. Sounds of cheering and wailing caught their ears in front of them, so they curiously looked down.

On the darkened street below them, dozens of people were scattered about, some clumped together more than others. These small groups seemed gathered around something important, so the siblings silently agreed on seeing what it was. Zuko took his sister's empty box and crumpled it together with his own, setting it on fire and letting it burn to ashes.

He hopped off the ledge and she followed, walking to the nearest cluster of mostly men. As they approached, the group groaned and walked of, leaving a man sitting there weighing what looked like a bag of coins. The man had a bandanna wrapped around his head, the tied end hanging in front of his temple. As he held the bag, a wide smirk plastered itself across his face; cool and cocky. As Zuko examined his face more, something clicked. Crazed; mustache and beard, gray eyes, it had to be.

The Fire Lord blinked and called out, "Hahn Xi?"

Hahn's head snapped towards the pair, eyes lighting up with recognition as they landed on Zuko. But as soon as they traveled onto Azula, they slightly bulged and he quickly stuffed the bag into a pocket.

"Oh, er, hello again... Friends?" a fearful grin etched itself onto the man's face as he watched the scary woman scowl at him.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were a salesman, not a con." Azula interrogated.

The man closed his eyes and put his hands up in the air, saying, "Well, this used to be the only thing I did. But a few years ago, someone beat me! A _blind_ girl no less. My glorious pride was hurt, and so, I took up selling jewelry. Conning people has become just a side hobby now."

He reached behind his back and pulled out the same case he had yesterday. "If you're now interested, I could-"

"For the last time..." Azula trailed off lividly. She stalked up to him and grabbed his collar, drawing his face close to hers. "No."

The salesman's gray eyes were wide with fear as he slowly sat the box behind him and backed away under her deadly glare. She finally let go of his robe and walked back to her brother. A mild breeze ruffled the three's hair and clothes, Hahn Xi's bandanna swaying with the friendly whisper. Silence shrouded the group and the dealer blinked before getting up from the street. He packed up his cups and gave Zuko a fleeting glance and wink before hurrying away from Azula's burning gaze.

Zuko turned to look at his sister, asking, "Why do you hate him so much?"

She shrugged and started walking forward, him tilting his head before following. As they walked up to the normal street level, they noticed that the weather had gotten significantly cooler. Gusts of wind became common as the sun sunk lower and lower into the sky. Clouds occasionally fleeted over the blistering ball in the sky, shadows becoming redder and redder each passing.

As they walked, Zuko noticed a wizened old man pulling a cart of masks down the stone road.

"Spirit masks for sale!" he called, voice scraggly, "Masks for the Winter Festival here cheap!"

Two sets of identical eyes followed the old man's path. Zuko's set focused more on the cart and saw a flash of pale blue in the sea of masks. His orbs widened and he gasped, stepping away from his sister and jogging towards the salesman.

He stopped just short of the white haired man and said, "Excuse me, can I buy two?"

The man nodded, gesturing at the cart for Zuko to pick. The Fire Lord bent over and picked up the pale blue mask and turned it over. There, he once again came face to face with the mask of the Blue Spirit. Scowling and tusked, its grim visage filled his mind with memories of stealing for his uncle and freeing Aang from his imprisonment by Zhao. As he stared at the reminder of his first banishment, his sister walked up from behind him. She bent over and looked over several masks, but finally stopped at a familiar one.

Crimson and gold, fanged and roaring, the mask of the Dragon Emperor from "Love Amongst The Dragons" stared back at her. The princess turned and looked at the mask her brother was holding, seeing the face of the Dark Water Spirit.

"Ah, the Water and Dragons Spirits," the salesman mused wheezily, "Very good choices, children."

Zuko thought a moment before asking, "Do you... Have any um, stealth clothing?"

The old man's wrinkled forehead raised as he looked at the Fire Lord up and down with a careful expression. He looked down the street beyond Zuko and behind him. He turned around, satisfied that it was empty enough.

"One moment." he said. He reached into a hidden side compartment and opened it, looking up at Azula and her brother for a moment before rummaging around inside. He produced two black suits with fitted hoods that covered the chin; one smaller than the other. Noir, knee high boots were also pulled out, with matching pairs of boots. The man folded the suits and gloves, pulling out a small box and putting the folded clothes inside. The footwear was taken and put on top, the masks following them.

He handed the box to Zuko and said, "That'll be four silver pieces. Please, son, only from the rich."

After reaching into his pocket and giving the man the money he owed, the Fire Lord took the box full of all of the purchased items. He nodded his thanks to the salesman and turned around, wanting to get home before the Underworld started creeping out from its holes again.

* * *

In half an hour, they got back to Lao's house, entering through Lee's shop. The blacksmith was standing in front of the forge, staring at the liquid metal as it hissed occasionally. Not wanting to disturb the giant, they silently passed by, hearing him breathe and the forge breathe with him. The two siblings walked down the hallway and into the dining room, where the old woman was waiting for them. She has two bowls of rice in her hand, and when she saw the two enter the room, she superheated her hands. The rice hissed and steam rose from the white food.

Lao set them down on the table and commanded, "Eat. You two need energy."

Zuko almost protested, but Azula stopped him with a not-to-gentle stomp on his foot. She walked over and sat down, taking the pair of chopsticks in the bowl and digging in. The scarred boy followed and sat down next to his sister, but refrained from eating immediately. He instead stared at the old woman as he tried to think of how to word a question he had.

"Lao," he began, "How do you suggest we take down the Underworld? Because we um... Don't really know where to start."

The woman looked up in thought for a moment before answering, "The people who threaten and extort Lee force him to bring his weapons over to an abandoned building at the end of the road on the west side. I've heard the bosses of the gang order and control everyone in underground tunnels, so there's probably an entrance to one of the tunnels in there."

Scowling in deep thought, Zuko stated, "Just taking out the bosses won't stop all the crime here."

"...No, dear," the grandmother spoke after a moment, "But it will be enough to give people like Lee the courage to finally say no. To fight back. Without the leaders, these dumb crooks will have no orders for awhile. We'll take our city back with that advantage."

Azula finished eating and stood up, muttering, "Eat, Kuzon. It's time to go."

"The gang moves in giant packs," Lao explained as Zuko and Azula were dressing, "There may be a few lone wolves out tonight, but they're not what you want to worry about. If you let the groups corner you, it's over. You will have to stick to the rooftops."

The scarred teenager fitted the tight hood over his head. He tied the sash over his stomach, his sister copying him. The gloves came on next, and the boots followed. He picked up and separated the sword, swiping and cutting through the air. The Fire Lord followed through on some forms just to make sure he could fight with dexterity. Azula did the same, and he watched her silver sword swish cleanly through the air. As he watched, his eyes widened; he thought that _he_ was graceful, but she, she had outdone him again.

He watched for one more moment before asking, "Where'd you learn to use a sword like that?"

Lao looked at him funny, and he realized he had slipped up. "...I mean... You _are_ an archer after all."

As if it were the most candid truth, Azula replied confidently, "I've been taking lessons from a man that teaches on Shujing Island."

"Oh, yeah?" Zuko replied lamely. Internally, he sighed, seeing the old woman shrug and turn to stare at the forge in Lee's shop. That was a close call, and he knew Lao wasn't dull or dim. He was sure she'd be suspicious from now on.

Azula shot him a nasty look and walked over to the box that now only held their masks. She picked up the face of the Blue Spirit and tossed it to Zuko. He caught it with ease and stared at it for a minute before tying it on over his face. The princess tied hers on as well, looking at her brother with curious eyes. He watched back, bemused at how well it... _Suited_ her?

Cocking one hip to the side, his sister tilted her head to the side and stared at the Blue Spirit. She had always suspected that he was the thief, but never thought to talk to him about it. He held himself with such an ominous backbone, it was hard to tell that it was her brother. She gritted her teeth from behind the red mask, knowing that he would be better than her at being quiet and fast. Somewhere, deep within her chest, she felt proud that Zuko was able to do something useful better than her. Not that she would ever admit that though.

"Well, I guess it's _almost_ like 'Love Amongst the Dragons'" she dryly stated, earning a chance to watch her brother stiffen. The old woman staring at the hot metal turned around to face the two and gaped, looking at the terrifying face of the Dark Water Spirit.

"Oh," she gasped, "The Blue Spirit! Are you really the same person from a couple of years ago?"

Zuko nodded, already preparing himself for not talking for awhile. Lao looked at Azula, eyes capturing the image of the roaring Dragon Emperor.

"And you are supposed to be...?" she inquired.

The girl with the red mask thought for a millisecond before answering, "I'm the Crimson Dragon."

Lao smiled, watching the two siblings strap their swords onto their backs. She saw the Blue Spirit stretch and his red companion scoff, saying that he had gotten out of his game. They bickered for a moment before realizing that the sun had set and that they needed to go. They said their goodbyes, and hurried out the door, silently flitting sideways and into the alleyway beside the house, shutting the door behind them. The old woman heard some small noises on the roof and heard them fade away. She sighed and walked into the hallway to go talk with Lee.

Outside, on the same blood red roof, a shadow watched the two run towards the falling sun.

It slowly followed.

* * *

 **chap. fin**


	6. Orpheus, Part One

**A/N: Thanks for all of the reading and support you guys. 3K+ views really touches the heart. This is a two-parter so don't murder if you want more soon. Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Home**

 **Chapter Six: Orpheus, Part One**

* * *

The Blue Spirit and Crimson Dragon ran across the rooftops of Fire Fountain City, silently chasing the fading light that used to be the sunset. They jumped a large gap and stopped, landing on a flat roof with small red dragons spewing fire from their mouths on the edges. The pair crouched and sat for a moment, resting after having sprinted three minutes straight.

Powerful gusts of wind tore through the air, causing havoc on the streets. Lanterns were blown out, papers flown up into the sky and signs swayed, almost brittle enough to be ripped off their hinges. The siblings were silent as their chests huffed and puffed air in and out of their lungs. Noises of an incoming storm made themselves known to everyone in the city. Thunder whispered in the distance and rain gradually dripped onto the roof, causing Zuko to thank Agni that they would be going underground. Scaring criminals would be difficult if they slipped and fell due to the rain.

Waiting a few more seconds, they looked at each other for confirmation before resuming their pursuit. Lightning struck and they were off the roof, rolling with a hard landing onto the street below and darting towards the abandoned building.

It had no door, so they entered it with ease. The overcast night showed no mercy to moonlight, so Zuko took a risk by bending a small flame to find any hidden entrance. Azula stayed close behind him, periodically looking behind her back for any unwanted visitors. The Blue Spirit searched around for a bit and found a suspicious, out of place box with a piece of tarp lazily thrown over. He cocked his head in suspicion before killing the fire in his palm and pushing the box forward.

He willed another flare to come to his hand, and his short-lived search proved fruitful. There on the ground was a square, metal trapdoor with a heavy chain lock keeping in closed. Zuko's curse was muffled by his mask as his mind raced on how to deal with the lock. He reminded himself that he had swords, and he drew the single blade out, separating it into halves. The Blue Spirit raised his swords up and-

"Come on, lava brain! Keep it movin'!" a deep voice shouted impatiently.

Zuko's eyes widened and he looked at his sister, silently pulling and moving her and himself behind the crate and attempting to calm his breathing. He heard the heavy steps of Lee. The giant apparently stopped, and two other sets of lighter footsteps came closer to the box.

"Hey," a baritone voice began, "Who moved the crate?"

"Dunno," the same gravelly voice replied, "You think someone's trying to sneak in?"

The grip that Zuko had on his swords tightened, his heart beating hard and fast. He was thankful for the storm outside; otherwise they probably would have heard the organ hammering off in his chest.

There was a moment of silence from the two men, and then, "No, probably just some newbie West using our tunnel. Let's just get these to the Mistresses."

"Alright," the other replied, "Set the box down, oaf. We'll take it from here."

Lee dropped the boxes, the great weight smacking down loudly onto the floor of the building. There was some quiet muttering that couldn't be heard over a loud crack of thunder, and after that, a click. The metal trapdoor creaked open and one of the men grunted as he hefted the box full of weapons, handing it to the other. The other set it down and moved out of the way for his partner to get into the tunnel. They continued their inaudible conversation as they traversed the underground tunnel, their voices' volumes dissipating each second. Azula and Zuko heard Lee shut the door and the chains moving.

They leaped out from behind the crate, Zuko saying, "No, no, Lee!"

The giant stopped and looked at him, a flash of lightning revealing his black eyes to be curious. The Blue Spirit lit a flame in one hand and used the other to lift his mask up, showing his scarred visage.

"It's us, don't lock the door. We need to get in there." he told the lavabender, now holding both hands out.

Face twitching minutely, the man pointed to the door, uttering, "D-Dangerous."

"We know how to deal with them, Lee," the Fire Lord assured with a smile, "Don't worry about us. Just get back home to Lao, okay?"

He didn't seem to be convinced, scowling skeptically and gesturing to the door as if it would make his point clearer. Zuko sighed and looked at his sister for support. Her mask gave away no emotion, so he turned around to face her and moved his hands around as if telling her, "help me!"

She rolled her eyes from under the mask and pulled it up, stating, "Lee, my friend and I are masters of stealth and sword combat. We can handle a lot of people; however many are down there. You... Should get to your grandmother. She was looking pale before we left, and the storm has probably made her sick. Check up on her to make sure she's alright, okay?"

For the first time the siblings had seen it, the man's eyes widened. He quickly turned around and ran back the way he came.

Zuko watched him go before turning to Azula and smiling, whispering, "Good one."

The princess looked at him for a moment before nodding and sliding her mask back down over the face. He did the same, sheathed his swords, and they turned around, crouching at the metal door. The Fire Lord grasped the door and slowly pulled upwards, causing the door to creak. Zuko winced; knew that anyone in a close vicinity would hear the noise echo through the tunnel. He pulled again and tried to do it fluidly, yet gently. Fortunately, the door responded with only two small creaks after he opened it and set it down onto the floor.

Dauntless, the Blue Spirit leaped into the darkness, a flare in his palm lighting the way. As he suspected, it was not a long drop. The tunnel seemed to only be seven feet tall, a foot or more over both of the siblings. Azula followed in after him, not bothering to shut the door after them.

As soon as they were in the tunnel, they noticed a rank, disgusting smell that clouded the air. Zuko could see tiny particles slowly dancing in the thick, pungent gas that surrounded them, moving almost so largo that he would have assumed they were in limbo. He and his sister looked at the flame illuminating the black, noticing a slight curve in its formation, bending back towards them.

"This tunnel must be connected to the city's sewer system," Azula murmured, "There will probably be this big room where all of the plumbing pipes lead to. That has got to be their base of operations. We might find the leaders there."

Zuko nodded and started walking, the Crimson Dragon following him. As they traversed the tunnel, it seemed to be built pretty straightforward, no other tunnels that branched off to other parts of the sewer system. The lack of confusions aside, there seemed to be a building, physical pressure pushed down upon them as they made their way down the passageway. It rose ever few steps, and though the siblings felt no pain, it was voraciously unsettling and discontenting.

With the rising encumbrance, a volume was also rising. The volume was a noise of a crowd, jeering, yelling, booing; it sent shudders through the Blue Spirit's back as it reminisced him of the crowd watching the Agni Kai between him as his father. He remembered how the noise of the body of people became unbearable as it rose with the sound of the fire in Ozai's hand. His scar tingled with a flash of dulled, white hot pain, causing a burst of uncomfortable heat echo around inside his body. The resonance grew as they got closer to it, and a dim but visible light gradually began to pierce through the noir darkness of the passage, causing the Fire Lord to quell the hot light above his gloved hand. He knew that they were close.

They walked for fifteen seconds and finally stopped, noticing an open doorway, with a bright light filtering through. The two stopped short of it and looked out of it, noticing a new smell to all the other spiritless odors that filled the air: sweat. There was a humongous, fire lit, and circular room facing them, what looked like stone bleachers lining up at least twenty sets high. They were permeated with men, small and large, rugged and fine, handsome and ugly. They looked like they were on break from patrolling the streets, and were watching something located in the middle of the room.

The Blue Spirit and Crimson Dragon turned their attention towards what the spectators were watching with gusto, and what they saw shocked them. Leveled down about twenty feet, was a rectangular platform that looked like it was modeled after an Agni Kai arena.

On opposite sides of the long floor, two men stood, one rather large and beefy, while the other looked averagely sized. They simultaneously got into stances and in a flash, they firebent at each other, both dodging their enemy's blasts and running towards the center of the platform. Fire shot and burst from kicks and punches thrown from afar, all dodged by the other. When the two men finally met, they exchanged brutal hits on each other. The larger one won out after a few shots were thrown at each other, grabbing the smaller firebender and throwing him down onto the ground.

The crack of a neck breaking was overpowered by the roar of the crowd. The muscular man raised both of his arms in victory, earning louder yells from watchers.

Two men in black quickly ran out from an entrance to the platform and pulled the dead firebender up, hauling him offstage. As they did this, another man came out of the entrance, raising his arms up as welled. Long, black hair adorned his head, shining in the firelight.

As the man spoke, Zuko realized that he and Azula would be scrutinized if they were spotted in their outfits. Luckily, everyone watching the battles were too focused on that, so there was no attention for them. His trained eyes searched the arena, looking for anyone that had the appearance of some type of higher position. They circled the arena and stopped when they spotted a group of gorgeous women being surrounded by huge, mean-looking men built to kill.

They looked bored, sitting on thrones and tapping their fingers on their knees or their armrests. Zuko's eyes caught a movement, and focused on it. He saw two men carrying a crate full of swords, maces, and other deadly weapons. One of the females stood up and walked over to the crate, guards giving her a very wide berth. She inspected the weapons before nodding and saying something, the two men complying by hefting the box up once more and walking back the way they came. Now that the Blue Spirit knew his targets, he searched for a way to get over there while hidden.

He searched for cover, and found nothing that hid him from everyone in the room. The man searched the floor and found a grate system, looking like it trailed all the way to the opposite side of the room.

Crouching down, he pulled up on the grate, opening it with a hard tug. He motioned for the Crimson Dragon to follow him and lowering himself down into the grate. She followed and leaped down, swiftly pulling the grate down with her. Azula landed into shin-high water with a splash and looked down, surprised and bemused as to why the water was there. As soon as an even worse smelled rose up to her nose, she finally understood where all of the city's waste was deposited at. A noise of disgust left her lips and Zuko turned around, blue mask hiding the urgent look on his face. He grabbed her arms and she looked up due to the contact, waiting for what he had to say.

"The men that took Lee's weapons gave them to some women sitting in special chairs," he hissed, "I think they're the leaders."

"Will they be above the grates?" she hissed back.

"I don't know, Azula," he replied, "But they'll definitely be close. Come on."

The two hidden siblings started traversing the grates, rats scurrying in the muck of the cesspool.

* * *

A hooded man walked through the tunnel, increasing the speed of his pace once he noticed a light was starting to illuminate the passageway he was in. He strode through an open doorway and looked around, intelligent eyes taking in everything around him. He saw people fighting on a platform in the middle of the room, with others watching, seemingly no one focused on him.

He knew that they were here, and that they would be out of place.

Starting to search, he began to walk around the circular trek, looking up and down the rows of spectators. None of the men there were wearing black; none had masks, none of them were women. He scowled, becoming frustrated at how long this was going to take.

"Hey, buddy," a voice began, tapping hard on his shoulder from behind him.

The man began to turn around as the criminal continued, "You're blocking the fight. Besides, we don't accept cri-Agh!"

His eyes had gone up and he quickly backed away, apologizing profusely. The man turned around to face others who were observing him, only to have their faces pale and their eyes widen, running away or tensing. Mentally, he smirked, knowing that he had established his dominance. He could finally search in peace. The man turned and kept walking, dark orbs searching the crowd more critically than ever. His foot clanked on something metal as he stepped and he looked down, noticing a metal grate with enough space for someone to crouch into.

Head turning, he saw that the grate circled around the entire seating area. His eyes followed the curve of where it led to, eyes drinking in the scene of beautiful women sitting in thrones, surrounded by bodyguards and bouncers. His brain quickly formulated a plan and he swiftly walked over towards them. Once he made it over there, he pushed through six men before making it near the women. Two huge men nearest to the outside leader noticed him and moved to apprehend him, only hesitating when they looked above his eyes.

They looked at one of the women sitting and she lazily turned, looking at the man before turning back to her guards and nodding. Blind to her aloofness, the men charged him, only to be met with one hand and a cold leg. The one greeted with the hand stopped struggling as it gripped on his neck, windpipe breaking. The one greeted with the leg was sent flying into a group of spectators, all of them falling to the ground with him. The leader that ordered the death of the man looked at the dead bouncer on the ground before looking up at the person that killed them.

She smirked and nodded, thinking that he was playing right into her little game. The woman sat back, watching the male walk to her chair and pull the hood further over his head out of the corner of her eye.

* * *

Shifting, Zuko looked above, seeing the chairs of the leaders and the feet of the guards. A pentapus idly detached itself from the slimy wall as a rat squeaked. He thought for a moment before looking back down and turning towards the Crimson Dragon.

"Stay here. I'll go to the other side of the group," he whispered, "We can take out the guards and trap the leaders in. Wait for my signal."

With that, the Blue Spirit swiveled around and started moving forward. Before he could take a second step, he felt his sister's hand firmly grip the tight fabric on his shoulder. He stopped and turned back around, bemused as to why she had stopped him. The Fire Lord heard her heavy sniffs of breathing, and saw her shoulders rising high with each inhalation. He watched silently, seeing what she wanted to say. After a moment, she pulled her mask up, revealing her beautiful face. In her eyes, there was worry, shining brightly despite the dark shadows of the sewer.

She kept breathing heavily before speaking, "Zuko, I have a bad feeling about this. Whatever happens, just... Please be careful. For me."

Behind the mask, his eyes widened, surprised. The last time Azula had told him that was when he was seven and she was five. They were playing fire tag in the gardens, and he had tripped over a tree root. She had chastized him after brushing the dead leaves of autumn out of his phoenix tail, before sitting on the ground and telling him to be more careful next time. They had fallen asleep together under the shade of the tree after that.

Snapping out of the pleasant memory, he reached out and put a single hand on her shoulder squeezing gently.

"Azula," he began, "I'll be fine. Remember when we took down Ba Sing Se together? We worked as a team, and a good one too. Now isn't any different."

The princess's eyes looked into his with slight incredulity before nodding and letting go of the clothing on his shoulder. She pulled down her red mask back down onto her face and watched him crawl about twenty feet to the other edge of the mass of people, waiting for the mark. He held up three fingers, and she knew what he was going to do. After a second, he took away one finger, and after another it was down to one. Her heart pounded as life seemed to slow down, watching the only finger left fall down.

As soon as it hit his palm, they simultaneously shot out of the grates, boosted by unseen firebending.

* * *

Zuko's feet hit the ground as he landed close to the metal plating he had shot out of. The noisy commotion failed to distract anyone else from the fight but the guards, so when they turned, he knew he wouldn't have to watch his back before fighting. Only two guards were directly in front of him, looking at him with bemusement and amused disbelief.

"Is that... The Blue Spirit?" one questioned, thick neck turning to face a fellow guard.

"Yeah, I think so," he answered, crossing his arms, "Huh, thought'd he'd be taller."

One of the women closest to the side Zuko was on noticed him, eyebrows barely raising, and eyes gazing at him with boredom.

"Kill him." she ordered, turning back to the fight.

The men responded to her command by pounding their fists together and smirking at the man in black. One took a few steps toward the shorter male before throwing a hook at the only blue thing in the room. The Blue Spirit dodged with a spin and unsheathed his swords in midturn. He used the momentum of his quick pivot to slash downward onto the large man's arm, tearing a large gash across the meaty skin. Blood flew and the guard yelled in pain, hastily drawing the damaged arm and swiping at the sword wielder with the other.

Ducking, Zuko narrowly missed the devastating blow. He jumped and cut across the bouncer's shoulder, the latter screaming in agony peppered with growing rage. As he landed from the leap, the second guard came out from behind and threw a punch at the shorter attacker. The recipient of the attack rolled out of the way and stopped near the ledge protecting viewers from falling onto the arena floor.

He looked around, seeing one other guard notice the fight and watching it, waiting to see if his coworkers needed help.

The guard that he had cut twice stared at him, giving him a rancorous glare before charging him. Zuko quickly inhaled before standing up and moving out of the behemoth's path. He swiftly slid behind the man as the guard stopped charging, turning around to face the quick, stealthy menace. The bouncer began to try and sock the Blue Spirit's mask, but was stopped cold when the ninja struck him across the nose with the blunt, metal butt of one of his swords. The guard knelt down on one knee from the force of the blow and covered his nose with a hand, blood seeping from the fingers.

Not giving it a second thought, Zuko followed through with harshly hitting the goliath's temple with the butt of the other sword. The bodyguard's head hit the tiled stone floor.

The bouncer that had noticed the fight glared and joined the other conscious guard before walking towards the intruder, ready to kill.

Zuko turned around and scowled from behind his mask. The two guards scowled back and yelled before breaking out into a run towards him. The Blue Spirit tightened the grip on his sword handles and began running towards them. He broke his run by sliding towards one of the men, going right in between the guard's legs. Putting his swords together, he dragged them against the bouncer's ankle and the back tendon in his foot.

Hobbling on one foot, the poor giant screamed as he held his bleeding leg. He fell to the ground, unable to fight with the cut extremity.

The intruder of the room got up from the ground, facing the unharmed guard. There was a short moment of heavy breathing before they ran at each other, sword against fist.

* * *

As Azula shot out of the grate, her sharp eyes saw one outside guard take notice, while the others stood watching a fight. She landed onto the stone floor and took out her silver jian. It screeched like a Kumirkage as it touched the air, and the large man stared at her, eyebrows raised in astonishment. He looked behind him and saw the Blue Spirit standing on the other side before dodging a heavy punch and cutting his attacker with black swords.

The guard's eyes widened, and he knew this was a purposeful attack. He turned back only to find a sword tip at his throat, applying merciless pressure. He observed the roaring red mask and wondered who this new guy was supposed to be.

"Who are you supposed to be?" he asked fearlessly, "Does the Blue Spirit has a sidekick now?"

She rolled her eyes and quickly drew the sword away from his jugular. His arrogant smirk disappeared when she drove her elbow into his stomach with as much force she could muster, knocking the breath out of his lungs. The Crimson Dragon wasted no time in making sure he was down, kicking him in the kneecap and wincing in sympathy when she heard a grotesque crack. The guard howled and crumpled onto the ground, holding his broken leg in pain. Four guards turned around to see their friend on the ground and a sword-wielding, masked figure in front of him.

One roared and sent a blast of fire her way, forcing her to sidestep out its way. She gracefully danced around punches and blasts of fire, slashing at critical points that she knew would take the bouncers out of the fight. The bodyguards couldn't keep up, and after two minutes of dodging and cutting she finally made it to the leaders. As she ran to them, they started noticing that their supply of large men was running dry. Two began to get up, but she reached them extended her sword to each of them, showing that she meant business.

Despite the Crimson Dragon's acute eyes, she did not notice a shadowy, hooded figure slip behind the leaders' chairs, watching the Blue Spirit fight his way through the nonbenders. The large man watched the figure in blue and black slice and cut through the sea of guards. He had to wait; he wanted them together.

Azula took a moment to look at her brother fighting the guards on the other side, seeing that he was almost done.

She looked back at the sitting women, observing their glares of disgust. The Crimson Dragon looked up and around, seeing the crowd being distracted by her and Zuko's incursion. They stood up, getting a better view of the Blue Spirit fighting the Mistresses' guards. Some of them cheered and booed, while others watched in amazement. Zuko slashed one guard down the side and spun under another's left hook, cutting across the man's fist.

The two large men both went down and he took a moment to look at his work before noticing Azula was done.

He ran over and stopped next to his sister, looking at the seated women. He gazed upward at the crowd that was now looking at the two masked people. Some hesitantly began to step forward, unsure if they were supposed to help their leaders or not.

The Blue Spirit turned to his partner, saying, "We need to finish this, and quick!"

Nodding, she raised her sword up, staring at the leader directly in front of her. Breathing in, she was about to strike when the lady suddenly stood up, indignantly pointing a shaky finger at the Crimson Dragon.

"You two are no killers!" she accused, facing Zuko, "I've heard the tales of the Blue Spirit. You're just a cowardly thief that steals from the Fire Nation military."

She turned back to face Azula, "And you. I've never heard of a Red Spirit, but I'm assuming you're just a lackey, so the same goes for you. Get out of our headquarters and go home, freaks."

Zuko almost raised his swords to get it over with, but stopped once he saw a movement in the shadows behind them. Between the thin space in between each of the chairs, there was a small, glinting light that was dimly reflecting the firelight. It moved upwards and then immediately stopped. The Blue Spirit frowned; something definitely was wrong. Suddenly, he heard a clank and tensed, tightening his grip on his swords and preparing for anything that could happen.

The woman that had yelled at the two vigilantes was about to say something else but was cut off when a giant arm swung out from the shadows and struck her mercilessly. Shocked, Zuko and Azula watched her fly across the room, slamming into a nearby pillar and falling to the ground, as still and silent as a stone. The other leaders slowly got up in astonishment before turning around and looking into the darkness where their fellow Mistress had been attacked from.

An equally as large leg came out and kicked two chairs out of its way, forcing the Blue Spirit and Crimson Dragon to duck. The chairs crashed into the railing behind them. One of the leading females was struck and fell to the ground, motionless on the stone. Zuko took hold of Azula's arm and backed away from the row of chairs, knowing that being close to whatever in the shadows would end badly. He heard the fight behind them stop, someone apparently telling them that something was going wrong. The loud ambiance of the arena had fallen to near silent, all eyes staring at the scene before them.

A few seconds passed and Zuko saw the glint of dim light again, followed by a loud clank that echoed throughout the entire chamber. He heard something that sounded like pistons and his eyes widened. The attacker had decided to reveal himself.

Stepping out of the shadows, he was humongous. Towering even over the biggest men in the room, he was taller than even Lee. Beefy and muscular, his arms and legs bulged with raw, physical strength. One of his arms was only down the elbow, the forearm and hand completely missing. Scars and burns ran up and down the damaged arm, yet other marks of damaged skin plagued the other more functional parts of his body. The Blue Spirit's black eyes traveled down to his legs, and what they saw made the golden ones behind the mask open more than they ever had. Just below the knee, a metallic prosthetic leg dimly reflected the firelight of the arena, covered in scratches and scorch marks.

The man lowered his hood and Zuko looked up, breath catching in his throat.

A glaring, inverted eye was plastered onto his forehead, staring at the Fire Lord with its menacing gaze.

Combustion Man inhaled and sucked in his stomach, tensing and ready to get his revenge.

* * *

 **to be continued...**


	7. Orpheus, Part Two

**A/N: Guys, it's here! It's really here! Merry (or Happy) Christmas to all! Feliz Navidad, Joyeux Noël, whatever floats your boat! Please enjoy.**

* * *

 **Home**

 **Chapter Seven: Orpheus, Part Two**

* * *

 _The woman that had yelled at the two vigilantes was about to say something else but was cut off when a giant arm swung out from the shadows and struck her mercilessly. Shocked, Zuko and Azula watched her fly across the room, slamming into a nearby pillar and falling to the ground, as still and silent as a stone. The other leaders slowly got up in astonishment before turning around and looking into the darkness where their fellow Mistress had been attacked from._

 _An equally as large leg came out and kicked two chairs out of its way, forcing the Blue Spirit and Crimson Dragon to duck. The chairs crashed into the railing behind them. One of the leading females was struck and fell to the ground, motionless on the stone. Zuko took hold of Azula's arm and backed away from the row of chairs, knowing that being close to whatever in the shadows would end badly. He heard the fight behind them stop, someone apparently telling them that something was going wrong. The loud ambiance of the arena had fallen to near silent, all eyes staring at the scene before them._

 _A few seconds passed and Zuko saw the glint of dim light again, followed by a loud clank that echoed throughout the entire chamber. He heard something that sounded like pistons and his eyes widened. The attacker had decided to reveal himself._

 _Stepping out of the shadows, he was humongous. Towering even over the biggest men in the room, he was taller than even Lee. Beefy and muscular, his arms and legs bulged with raw, physical strength. One of his arms was only down the elbow, the forearm and hand completely missing. Scars and burns ran up and down the damaged arm, yet other marks of damaged skin plagued the other more functional parts of his body. The Blue Spirit's black eyes traveled down to his legs, and what they saw made the golden ones behind the mask open more than they ever had. Just below the knee, a metallic prosthetic leg dimly reflected the firelight of the arena, covered in scratches and scorch marks._

 _The man lowered his hood and Zuko looked up, breath catching in his throat._

 _A glaring, inverted eye was plastered onto his forehead, staring at the Fire Lord with its menacing gaze. Combustion Man inhaled and sucked in his stomach, tensing and ready to get his revenge..._

* * *

"Shit." Azula muttered, harshly shoving her brother out of the blast's path and following his movement. The explosion crackled as it traveled across the open air of the arena, before creating a deafening boom as it hit a section of bleachers. The silence that had filled the room before completely vanished, now filled with a rising panic. Men began running to nearby tunnel exits; anywhere away from the scene at the leaders' booths.

The Blue Spirit and Crimson Dragon looked up at Combustion Man from their spot on their floor, seeing him slowly turn their way. He was scowling, but his posture was relaxed. Both siblings knew that he wasn't going to rush this.

Zuko's composure on the outside was that of the fearless Blue Spirit's, but on the inside it was that of a scared child's. His shallow, erratic breaths were shaky, and he was still in shock from the new revelation of the mercenary being alive. He had _seen_ him die; he had seen the metal hand fly into the foggy abyss. And now, he was here, obviously tracking him and Azula and planning to kill them. It definitely wasn't a good thing to worry about, and he had a feeling that this wouldn't be the last of him, no matter how dead the assassin seemed.

The two siblings looked around and saw the leaders that were alive running to one of the exits, only to get caught in a stampede of much larger men.

" _Well,_ the Fire Lord grimly thought, _"At least there's only one thing to worry about now._ "

A steely clank brought him out of his thoughts and he turned back. The assassin in front of them was slowly tensing, eyebrows still downcast. Zuko sheathed his swords, quickly pulled his sister up with him, and ran to the closest object that was sufficient cover; one of the humongous pillars. He rounded the side and pulled Azula close to him, not wanting to give the mercenary an open target.

 _CRACKA-BOOM!_

The explosion completely extirpated the pillar, throwing the two siblings into the air. They landed about fifteen feet away from the now collapsed pillar, grunting in pain from the force of the fall. As the Blue Spirit landed, he felt a searing torment across his upper back and right shoulder. It stung badly, and blandly reminded him of how his face had felt after the Agni Kai with Ozai. He heard pistons move around and shot up, ignoring the agony he felt in his skin. The Crimson Dragon got up without his help this time, running with him towards a stone ledge near the bleachers for cover.

They reached it and slid in front of it, backs hitting the wall. The two tried to catch their breaths as they listened to the man's feet approach them. Azula closed her eyes before opening them and looking at her brother. She looked below his neck and her eyes widened.

"Zuko," she said in between breaths, "Your shoulder... It's-"

"I'm okay, Azula," he painfully lied, "We need to focus on getting out of here. We can't fight him now."

"Yes we can," she argued, "No one's here except him. We can use our bending and kill him before he kills us."

He looked at her for a moment before sighing and giving up. "Fine. But while we fight him, one of us needs to find an exit. If things go bad we need to know how to get out of here."

She nodded and peeked out from behind the cover, trying to gauge were he was. One look told her that he was about fifteen feet away. It wouldn't take long for him to reach them. She drew back into cover and looked at her brother, getting his attention.

"He's close," she muttered, "I'll lure him down onto the fighting level. Hide and attack when I've got his full attention."

Zuko shook his head, "No, it's too dangerous. You've never fought him before- I have. Besides, your bending is more powerful than mine, and I think he's after me more than anything. I'll cause more of a distraction than you will. When his back is turned, hit him with everything you got. That might slow him down enough for us to get out of here."

"What do you mean he's-"

"I'll explain later." he assured solidly, squeezing her shoulder firmly. He waited, listening to the metallic steps of the attacker.

The clanking got uncomfortably close, so Zuko leaped out from under cover and narrowly dodged a calculated explosion that hit another section of the bleachers. The Blue Spirit sprinted towards the railing like there was no tomorrow, jumping just before reaching it. He felt the heat of a distant explosion whisper across his body and sting his shoulder. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another one of the pillars get demolished by the immense amount of fiery energy. He landed onto the Agni Kai stage and rolled, gritting his teeth as a throbbing pain rattled through his legs and exploded in his shoulder. Zuko quickly turned around, preparing himself.

Scowling, Combustion Man stood next to the railing, looking at the figure that he was going to kill.

He vaulted over the railing and hit the ground without rolling, not showing any pain or damage. Zuko scowled as his heart quickened with fear. The Blue Spirit raised up his hands and got into a stance, exhaling the terror out. After a beat, he punched out a powerful burst of fire, his shoulder violently protesting. The Fire Lord tried to ignore the warm liquid slowly trickling down his arm.

The assassin started walking towards his target and batted the fire away with his only arm, not even blinking. The figure clad in black shot off a large wall of fire and started running, getting some distance between him and the large man. A small explosion boomed close behind him and he stopped, fully facing the assassin.

Zuko glanced upwards and saw his sister slowly sneaking out from her cover and standing still at the railing. He looked back down at Combustion Man and bent some more fire at him, this time aiming at his legs. The combustionbender dodged the hot attack and sent another explosion the Blue Spirit's way. The firebender watched the transparent line travel towards him in slow motion, knowing that it was too fast for him to dodge it. Panicking, he sent a heavy plume of warm fire directly towards the blazing hot beam. As it traveled out of his hand, he thought he saw a flash of green...

 _P-P-P-BOOM!_

The force of the explosion sent Zuko crashing into the wall twenty feet behind him. He hit the ground mask first and felt the injury across his upper back and shoulder sear in painful distress. Blood leaked out of the wound freely now, and stung it mercilessly. Slowly, he brought his head up, eyes blurring as they watched the mercenary slowly trek his way towards him. He moved his arms up and tried to push upwards off of the ground, but his biceps felt as if they were made out of molten lead.

"Zuko!" he faintly heard Azula shriek. She sounded like she did during Sozin's Comet...

" _No..."_ Zuko barely thought. He knew that she was having another episode, and that she would be distracted; not as strong as she normally was. He listened to what sounded like he sister hitting the arena floor and rolling, before his vision left him completely, his head sagging and his consciousness shutting down.

Azula's distinct blue fire harshly rip through the air and strike Combustion Man in the back, causing him to grunt and stop approaching the Blue Spirit. The giant turned around and faced her, tensing and shooting an explosion her way.

The Crimson Dragon danced around the blistering line and shot an angry blast of azure flames at the assassin. He tried to bend it away but she followed through immediately, relentlessly striking him with everything she had. After fifteen seconds of completely decimating the area where the mercenary was, she stopped to catch her breath, observing her destruction. There was a column of smoke directly in front of her, and she heard some sizzling. After a moment, the gray smog cleared and the insane teenager ground her teeth together violently, barely holding in a scream of rage. The giant stood still and tall, a few burns and scratches on his exposed skin, but nothing that looked like it had done any real damage.

Her deranged mind was reeling, tittering on the edge of pure irrationality. But, her eyes soon found her brother, and the sickening pounding that filled her mind softened, eased by her concern for Zuko's safety.

She shifted her attention back onto Combustion Man, scowling and gathering cold fire into her fingertips.

Before she could gather enough to do any real damage, the assassin quickly fired an explosion at her. The teenager abandoned her lightening and hit the ground, feeling the immense heat of the blast warm her back. She got up and was about to prepare more lightening but was stopped once the entire cavern shook and threw her to the arena floor.

Azula looked behind and saw that he had hit a third column, destabilizing the entire sewer system. Chunks of the ceiling started to solidly hail down from their highland home, striking dangerously close to where the three intruders all were. The humongous man watched the room fall apart in disinterest before turning away from the vigilante and walking over to the barely conscious Fire Lord. The girl watched him go before coming up with a plan. She stood up and silently got in a lighteningbending stance, going through all of the proper movements. Hands buzzing with energy, she aimed for his head, hoping to mess up the third eye.

The blue electricity traveled towards his cranium quickly before violently diverting, making a beeline for his left leg. It hit the prosthetic limb and she heard him yell in surprised pain, the cold fire doing more damage for longer than expected. The giant hit the floor, looking unconscious.

She watched the strange spectacle for a bemused moment before jumping out of her skin when a large piece of ceiling crashed down right next to her. The girl's mind was rushed back into the situation she was in, and she started sprinting towards her brother. She reached him and hefted him up off of the ground, struggling with his weight. Under normal circumstances, she would have been able to lift him, but she had been in chains for over a year, with little to no chance to exercise. Even if she had, she still probably would have had trouble. He was growing, and becoming heavier.

With a grunt of exertion, she lifted him over her shoulder and began to run towards a room where the fighters must have entered the arena floor. Luckily for her, it was still firelit, and looked like it had a way out. The Crimson Dragon made her way through the wide corridor, looking for any exit that would get her brother to safety. Every time that the building shook in its near collapse, the sister winced.

Her keen eyes searched and her legs pumped with blood as she ran. She stopped when she saw a vague shadow of a familiar, benevolent object that would make escape possible. A ladder stood close to a side wall, leading upwards into a circle of darkness. Shining in the firelight, a sign read: _**Emergency Exit!**_

The sibling darted forward and grabbed a hold on the ladder with one hand, the other making sure Zuko didn't fall off her shoulder. Swiftly, she raised her foot up and attempted to take a step, but her try was shattered by the weight that was attached to her shoulder. She grit her teeth and struggled, foot slowly rising until it hit the second rung. Azula could have cheered, but a loud crash that vibrated her teeth prevent the girl from doing so.

Slowly but surely, she climbed. The teenager felt a burning in her thighs and legs, but she opted to ignore it, pushing through the pain with all of her might. Even Toph would have been proud. After a minute of climbing, a bone shaking wave shook through Azula and nearly threw her off the ladder, but she hung on, feeling some skin under her left glove painfully give way. She felt blood sink along her arm and down towards her torso, not having any breath to scream or groan due to the traumatic exertion. The Crimson Dragon haltingly climbed in woeful agony for what seemed like eternity, before her head bumped up against a hatch of some kind. With great difficulty, she carefully leaned her back against the circular wall and reached her hand up, wincing in pain as she twisted to the left.

She heard a click and pushed up, feeling the trapdoor give way. It opened up completely and she reached forward, gripping the ladder's rungs once more. She heaved upwards with her abdominal muscles and tried with all of her might to step up onto the street above. Something in her thigh tensed and she felt like somebody had shot fire into her leg. Azula groaned in pain before leaning back again, breathing heavily, rain heavily plodding down onto her mask.

The teenager started to fade away, moaning as her vision darkened. _The last thing she heard were heavy footfalls getting closer and closer..._

* * *

Lao paced with remarkable agility, considering her age. She was filled with worry, as Lee had left to go find the two children. He had said that he ran into them while delivering the weapons, and that he had a very bad feeling about them going into the Underworld's headquarters. Her grandson hadn't returned since, and she could swear that she was earning a new wrinkle every second.

After a minute someone busted through the door. The old woman turned around to find Lee with Kuzon and Rize hung over each large shoulder. He dropped them down onto the wooden floor as gently as he could, rushing to the forge.

"Spirits, what happened?!" she anxiously queried, horrified at how lifeless they seemed. The lavabender did not respond; he instead quickly bent some molten material out of the forge and separated into two hot blobs. He expertly extended the two masses and cooled them swifter than he had ever done before, forming two crude stone beds. He bent down and picked them up, setting them down on each table. He made sure to lay the male down on his stomach, and the female on her back. The giant then inhaled deeply to gather his slow mind. He needed to explain as quickly as possible.

"Found h-er in s-service hatch. Car-rying K-Kuzon. People t-old me th-at hea-headquarters was at-tacked by H-H'li" he explained.

Her eyes widened in terror, "H'li is in the city? Why?!"

Lee shook his head, his way of saying he had no idea. The grandmother's brown eyes traveled down to Zuko's shoulder and back, and she winced at the gruesome sight. She rushed to get medical supplies and came back shortly after, swiftly shooing her grandson out of the way.

"I'm going to work on him, he needs it the most. See what's wrong with the girl." she commanded firmly, tone mother-like.

The metalbender nodded and turned to work on Azula. The old woman looked at the teenager's horrible injuries, trying to figure out what to do with him. His right shoulder and upper back were completely burned; not to mention bleeding profusely. The burned off skin was a dark, eerie red, and she guessed it had to do with the assassin's well known explosions. There were small but visible pieces of stone shrapnel embedded in the damaged tissues and muscles. She decided to first use her steel tweezers to get out the pieces of rock in his body. In her hurry to prevent further blood loss, the old grandma sometimes touched the injury with a bit of the device. Even the gentlest of brushes would elicit a physical response from his body, it either tensing or him groaning. When she was sure she had gotten all of it out, she applied burn salve to the wound, knowing that as it dried, it would help clot the blood.

She then took medical bindings and wrapped the injury up snugly, making sure no spot was missed. Once she was sure he was stable, she checked for further injuries but surprisingly found little, other than a few minor lacerations and bruises. She changed him out of his outfit and left him in simple, baggy trousers. The Blue Spirit mask was set aside near the doorway, ominously glaring at no one in particular. Lao walked over to where Lee was checking on Rize, apparently having little success.

"Have you figured out why she's unconscious?" she asked, still staring at the now undressed girl, in her normal pink-red robes.

Lee silently showed his grandmother her left hand and the woman's body shuddered in sympathy. Various parts of her fingers were skinless, while her entire palm was hot pink and raw looking. Dried blood ran down her arm and disappeared into the sleeves.

Lao stared at this a bit more before ordering, "Lee, please pick up Kuzon and carry him to my bed. He needs a soft mattress, not a stone one."

He nodded once more and dutifully picked the young man up as the old woman added, "Be sure to lay him on his stomach, grandson."

Zuko was carried into the dark hallway, completely unconscious. The firebender sighed and looked back at the girl, feeling a pity she hadn't felt for anyone but Lee in years. She wiped off the blood that had traveled all the way to her chest using water and gauze. The woman then did her best to disinfect the hand wound and wrap it up in bindings. She sincerely hoped that the teenager wasn't left handed. Suddenly, as she observing the child's face, she saw a small twitch in the upper eyebrow.

After a few more twitches, Azula shot up from the stone bed, shouting, "No!"

She realized that she wasn't climbing the ladder anymore and looked around, dazed. The princess noticed Lao and looked around, realizing that she was in Lee's shop. Looking down, she also came to notice that he left hand was wrapped up in medical bindings. She tried to move it around in its thick bandaging, but only felt harsh stinging from the minimal movement.

Azula turned to the old woman standing at the bedside, eyes asking questions Lao couldn't answer right away.

"Lee found you and your friend in a service hatch, and brought you back here. You're going to be alright." she gently assured, laying a hand on the girl's shoulder.

Reminded of who she was carrying up the ladder, her heart clenched. "Where is he?!"

Lao smiled sadly, "He's in my bed, resting. You two are lucky Lee found you as quick as he did. Otherwise, Kuzon might have died from blood loss."

The princess rotated her body ninety degrees and her feet touched the ground. She attempted to stand up, but felt a burning, flaming pain in her mid-thigh, feeling as if she had a gash there. Azula stumbled and would have hit the hard, wooden floor face first if Lao hadn't caught her.

"What's wrong?" the lady asked, "Why can't you stand up?"

The teenager shrugged and attempted to throw off the grandmother, wanting to see her brother.

"Rize." her voice rang out, now dangerously calm.

"Get off of me, peasant." Azula ordered in a threatening tone, yellow eyes piercing brown. She was done playing nice with these people.

A sour look on her face, Lao decided to negotiate. "If you explain what exactly happened tonight and we figure out what's wrong with your leg, I will help you see your friend. Please, try and be patient."

Azula thought about this for a moment and crossing her arms indignantly. She sat back down on the stone bed and thought of where to begin.

"We made it into the abandoned building and saw Lee give these men his weapons. We got him to go home and entered the hidden tunnel. Kuzon and I made it to the headquarters and sneaked through. We took out the Mistresses' bodyguards and were about to take them out too, but that's when H'li attacked. He killed two of them, and the rest were killed by a stampede. My friend got burned when we were hiding behind a pillar that H'li exploded. He fell unconscious and I tried to fight H'li, but nothing worked. I think that he had exploded so many pillars that the entire arena started to give way."

She continued, "As it began to collapse, I picked up Kuzon and ran into a nearby corridor. There, I found a ladder and got up to the top, but I was so exhausted I couldn't manage to get us out of there. That may have been when your grandson came."

"What happened to H'li?" Lao fearfully inquired.

"...I don't know. I doubt he's alive." Azula answered, a shameful amount of worry filling her gut.

"Well," the grandmother said after a moment, "You were very strong and brave to carry your friend out of there all on your own. I'm proud of you for doing that."

Azula looked away, trying to hide the bashful redness that came across her face. She didn't want anyone to be proud of her anymore.

"Did anything happen to your leg while you were down there?" the old woman asked.

"While I was climbing, it felt like something gave out and started burning in my thigh." the princess answered, looked down at the sore area.

"Hm," Lao mused, "You probably tore a muscle. I'll get some ice to reduce the swelling."

She left the room for a minute and returned with a chunk of frozen water wrapped in bindings. "Where is it most swollen and painful?"

The teenager pointed at the underside of her right thigh and Lao gently set the ice in that spot, taking the bindings and tying them together on the opposite side of the muscle. She offered the princess her shoulder and Azula hesitantly hooked her arm around the old woman's neck, hissing in pain as she stepped on the injured extremity. The girl hopped onto her left leg and let herself be guided by the old woman to the room where Zuko was in.

They entered the room and Azula internally sighed when she saw the peaceful look on his sleeping face. Her eyes traveled to the large amount of bandages on his upper back and right shoulder. She remembered the gruesome sight, and honestly had no idea how he could still bend fire or even move without yelling back there. His mouth was stupidly parted open, and she could see a tiny bit of drool seeping out of it. The princess rolled her eyes in mild disgust before a rare smile came to her lips. She would never admit it to anyone in her lifetime, but despite her disappointment in his periodic idiocy, she had always found it cute when he had made a mistake or said something dumb. Lost in her thoughts, Azula did not notice Lao reach over and pull out a simple wooden chair for her to sit in.

"I'll leave you two alone," the old woman giggled softly, guiding the girl into the chair.

Azula tersely waited until the lady gently shut the door behind her to relax, sighing and watching Zuko's relaxed form. They both had almost died tonight, and they probably would have if it wasn't for Zuko being H'li's main priority.

Her mind wondered what kind of stupid action her brother could have done to get the assassin's attention, but she knew that the giant wasn't after him over a contract. The combustionbender seemed less calm than the myths had described him, always scowling. Whenever he looked at her brother, he looked even angrier. She expected it was some kind of plotted revenge, but she could never tell at this point.

Yellow eyes slowly traveled down his back and stopped at a faded, star-shaped scar coloring the middle of his back. The same icy, clouded feeling that had permeated her stomach in the Forbidden Valley clawed at her now, knowing that she was the reason he had that scar. She knew that if he was laying down on his back, there would be an identical scar, only bigger, and more defined. Hesitantly, she hunched her back forward and took his hand, feeling rough callouses along his thumb and palm. Her finger gently rubbed them as her eyes tired and she yawned. Azula fell asleep holding his hand, dreaming about things that could never be.

* * *

 _Zuko opened his eyes, gasping for air. The first thing he noticed was how..._ colorful _everything was. His eyes took in the scenery of bright green plains of grass that flew in the soft breeze. Olive trees rarely dotted the landscape, some short enough to be considered shrubbery, and others that were easily taller than the maximum altitude Fire Nation airships could reach. Strange creatures of all shapes and sizes peacefully flew around, some stopping to stare before continuing on their way. The temperature was absolutely perfect, and something felt very homely about wherever he was._

 _A warm gust of air ruffled the Fire Lord's clothes and he looked around. The last thing he remembered was slamming into a wall, and hearing Azula shout his name. He wondered if he was dead._

 _Suddenly, he turned and saw an old man traversing a hillside. His eyes widened and he ran towards the man._

" _Excuse me!" he called, "Sir!"_

 _The elder stopped his pilgrimage and turned around, and Zuko's breath caught in his throat. Uncle Iroh stood there, with a pot of tea, a joyful smile on his face. Realizing that his uncle was here with him, his heart started beating painfully quick, assuming that the worst had happened to the both of them._

" _Uncle..." his eyes were wide in astonishment._

" _Hello, nephew. Lovely weather we are having, isn't it?" Iroh's gentle smile did little to cease the Fire Lord's worries._

" _Where are we?! Are we... Dead?" Zuko's eyes had begun to fill with tears. He wouldn't be able to make the funeral..._

 _His uncle chuckled and replied, "No, no. Not dead. We are in the Spirit World, Zuko. And although I cannot stay here permanently, I suspect that my time will come soon."_

 _The scarred teenager tried to ignore the statement and inquired, "Is Azula okay?"_

" _She's fine," the Dragon of the West replied, "She defeated H'li and carried you out, you know. You both are sleeping at Lao's house right now. But you two will need to leave North Chung-Ling soon."_

" _We were planning on moving on after that anyway," Zuko told his uncle, bemused at his statement._

" _I know that," Iroh retorted, "But you two must travel to a place not known by many. The Bhanti Tribe."_

" _What is the Bhanti Tribe?" the Fire Lord queried, "And why there?"_

" _The Bhanti Tribe is an indigenous group of people that settled into the Fire Nation during the time of the first Avatar. The reason you and Azula must go there is this. Your sister is going through turmoil, much like you were while we were living as refugees in Ba Sing Se. She has not shown it, but believe me, she is. The longer she holds back the sickness, the more damaging it will be once her body gives out. This is not like yours; she cannot just wait for it to be over, she will have to be healed. The Bhanti Tribe is the only one closest that can help her." the old man stated firmly._

 _Zuko listened in understanding, before asking, "Uncle, where is the Tribe?"_

" _That is something that no one knows. You must find it yourself. Look inside, and the light shall guide you." his uncle sagely told._

 _Before his nephew could ask what he meant, the tea-loving old man vanished in miniscule, golden particles. They slowly floated up and disappeared into the baby blue of the sky. The young man sighed in exasperation and looked around to find a way out of the Spirit World. He took one step before all he saw was green light flowing into his eyes._

 _He was floating up, up, up..._

* * *

Zuko's eyes slowly opened, flashing green before returning to their normal white and yellow. His mouth was dry, and his cheek was resting on a wet spot. He exhaled as he realized it was his own drool. The Fire Lord realized he was on his stomach and tried to get up, but recoiled down to safety as his shoulder and back seared in pain. Just then, he remembered the pain he felt in those areas after being thrown into the air from that explosion.

The scarred male's eyes widened as they realized something was touching his hand. With difficulty, he crooked his head back to see what it was, and what he saw surprised him.

Azula's head was resting on the edge of the bed, her hand gripping his. He looked at her for a moment before moving his head back to its original place. His fingers moved around and explored her hand. It was at that moment that his fingers brushed over her fingernails. He had never noticed it while they had searched for their mother, but she had clipped away her sharp, dangerous talons. They felt normal, and Zuko was comfortable that he wouldn't get cut if he held it a little bit longer.

He smiled, closing his eyes and trying to enjoy the moment until morning.

* * *

 **chap. fin**


End file.
